Is America moving back towards the left?

[Ned]

DP

[Ned]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Wow Ned, you mean the Democrats finally have a clue ?

If the Democrats want to win, they are clueless.

Huffington, the shrill "independent" in the recent "Kali"-fornia gubernatorial race, tried to say "vote for me" because we need to raise taxes and fight Bush. Bustamante sounded the hard left clarion.

Republicans took 62% of the vote.

[Jac de Molay]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Wow Ned, you mean the Democrats finally have a clue ?

I wouldn't know either way. The debates I've heard so far have been absolutely useless. Basically, it's 10 sufferers of what I call "Liberal Whining Syndrome" teeing off on Bush and spouting off pithy one-liners.

If this sh*t keeps up, I just might have to cross over to the Dark Side.

[SpencerH]

"Pithy"



Its a very woody word.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Ned
I don't know about America as a whole, but the leadership of the Democrat party have moved sharply left. In the debates, the stronger the anti-war message, the louder the applause. The more the appeal to class warfare, the louder the applause. I was "amuzed" in the last debate by the candidates lamenting the harsh conditions the "immigrants" were having in the southern deserts. NAFTA and the WTO are routinely decried. Protectionism is now labelled "fair trade." Every candidate talks about this or that new program he will bring the people, promising to pay for it by raising taxes on the rich. Corporations and their executives are labelled evil.

One would almost think that these people were communists.

Being for progressive taxation is hardly novel for Dems. Its possible to increase taxes on the rich, and still leave the rich less taxed than under Clinton, thanks to the Bush tax cuts. You may not have like the tax structure circa 1998, but it was hardly communism.

Re Trade : yup, there i see Leiberman as the only Dem who is still folllowing the Clinton pro free trade line. Of course its not like Bush has been consistenly free trade either.

[Giancarlo]

Is America moving back towards the left?

Not a chance in hell.

[Jac de Molay]

Originally posted by Fez


Not a chance in hell.

We'll see about that, Fezbollah. A recent Newsweek poll shows that voters favor a Bush reelection by only a very slim margin- 1 to 2 percent, and he's not polling strongly against either Clark or Kerry.

With opposition attacks increasing in Iraq, economic woes, and credibility issues regarding cassus belli, he's in trouble.

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Jac de Molay


We'll see about that, Fezbollah. A recent Newsweek poll shows that voters favor a Bush reelection by only a very slim margin- 1 to 2 percent, and he's not polling strongly against either Clark or Kerry.

With opposition attacks increasing in Iraq, economic woes, and credibility issues regarding cassus belli, he's in trouble.

Not if the newest voters aren't showing that...

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/10/23/poll_finds_gop_continuing_its_gains_on_college_campuses_boston_globe/

My generation...

He isn't in trouble. I think he will have no problem dealing with the inept opposition... look at those idiots... all nine of them.

Edit: Okay since that link won't work... here is the story:

When Nicole Gaska headed off to college at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst two years ago, her parents warned the outspoken young Republican she would find herself in the minority.

Today, although the 21-year-old junior says she has taken her share of criticism from liberals, she has also been surprised by how many students share her opinions. A new nationwide poll, released yesterday by Harvard University's Institute Of Politics, finds she is far from alone: Of the 1,200 student respondents, 31 percent identified themselves as Republicans, compared with 27 percent who said they are Democrats. The largest number, 38 percent, called themselves Independent, or unaffiliated.

The poll also suggests those students could play a bigger-than-expected role in the 2004 presidential election. More than 80 percent of the surveyed students said they "definitely" or "probably" will vote, and two-thirds are already registered. For party leaders, the large number of unenrolled students means rich recruitment opportunities, said Dan Glickman, the Harvard institute's director.

"There are 9 million college students in the country," he said. "Most would like to vote, and they're up for grabs."

Since the 1980s, pollsters have tracked the growing numbers of right-leaning student newspapers and college Republican club members. Glickman said the party's edge in the most recent poll, conducted earlier this month, is a noteworthy development -- the largest margin Republicans have achieved over college Democrats in this poll's three-year history.

Students also felt strong loyalties to George W. Bush: 61 percent of college students approve of Bush's job performance, about 10 points higher than the general public. The president's approval rating among college students has not changed since an April poll -- a period that saw a 12-point drop in approval among the general public.

Jane Lane, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, questioned the poll results, which she said run counter to polling by the Democratic National Committee, as well as the active support of Massachusetts college students for Democratic candidates from Senator Edward M. Kennedy to presidential hopeful Howard Dean.

"We have every reason to believe that young people are far more progressive than this poll indicates," she said.

To Gaska, a lifelong conservative who remembers watching "Crossfire" with her father at age 5, the results were less surprising.

"A lot of people on campus are kind of conservative but they don't necessarily feel comfortable voicing their opinion," said Gaska, a member of the campus Republican Club.

Other Harvard poll findings point to students' potential for engagement. Nearly two-thirds said they would be likely to attend a political rally if asked by a friend; about half said they would volunteer on a political campaign if asked.

According to the recent poll, two-thirds believe that political involvement can have tangible results -- up 17 percent from three years ago.

After two years of inactivity, the Republican student group at Northeastern University recently reregistered for official recognition, said Michael Romano, the president of the school's student government, who is one of many unaffiliated students on campus.

"I don't believe in strictly a two-party system, and I don't believe that pigeonholing myself at a young age on one side or the other is going to encompass all my ideas," he said.

In recent months, student leaders at colleges across the city have banded together to form a new group, Boston Intercollegiate Government, in part to register voters and push students to the polls. Unless students become a powerful bloc, said Romano, elected leaders will never address their concerns.

Still, Northeastern political scientist Bruce Wallin is skeptical that students, given their apathetic history, really will start voting.

"Everybody says they're going to vote, but college-age kids don't," he said.

Jenna Russell can be reached at jrussell@globe.com.

[Japher]

Fez!!! How's school? I was down in Malibu about 3 months ago and thought of you as Northridge is just over the hill... went by the exit.

Anyway.

US is becoming more left and it bugs the hell out of me. Even my party is become more centered... why!!!!?

[Giancarlo]

Really? You thought of me? Hehe..

I really don't think the US is becoming more left... since I had a big struggle posting that dumb link I just posted the story.

I think this country is taking a turn to the center right...

[Q Classic]

i hope the left dies.

i hope the right dies.

sooner or later, the moderates will have to be the last ones standing...

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
i hope the left dies.

i hope the right dies.

sooner or later, the moderates will have to be the last ones standing...

Bah! The only thing in the middle of the road are dead animals.

[Bosh]

And that is when the anarchists will strike

[Ned]

Go Fez. You have one diehard supporter here, me.

[Ned]

IMO, the Democrats are digging themselves a seriously deep hole. The American people, as witnessed by the recent anti-tax election of Schwarzenegger in "Kali"-fornia, will not elect a radical leftist. And yet, is the radicals who are leading the Democrat field. The less radical, such a Lieberman, are hopelessly behind it appears.

Democrats have nominated "moderates" like Clinton only when they are willing to put aside their more extreme ideas and want to win. This does not appear to be one of those elections.