President's Speech Gets Positive Response

Measures	Pre-Speech	Post-Speech	Shift (Post – Pre-Speech)
Obama Job Approval: Total Approve	50	58	+8
Obama Thermometer Rating: Total Warm	50	66	+16
Has Good Plans for the Economy: Total Describes Well	36	54	+18
Creating New Jobs:  Total Confident	34	52	+18
For the Middle Class:  Total Describes Well	42	66	+24
Energy: Total Confident	46	68	+22
Bridging the Partisan Divide and Bringing Americans Together: Total Confident	36	56	+20
Seems to Understand the Issues That are Important to My Life: Total Describes Well	42	62	+20
Makes Me Hopeful When I Hear Him Speak: Total Describes Well	38	66	+28

The graphic above is from Democracy Corps, who did some dial testing during the president's State of the Union speech and conducted interviews both before and after the speech. The people interviewed were a bipartisan group of voters from Denver, Colorado. This group obviously had a strong reaction -- a very positive reaction -- to the president's speech.

And that's not the only company that found a positive response to the speech. Knowledge Networks conducted a poll immediately after the president's speech for CBS News. They found that 91% of the people who heard the speech approved of it, while only 9% disapproved. That's an even higher approval than they found after last year's State of the Union speech.

Before the speech, 53% of respondents said they approved of the president's plans for the economy, but after the speech that rose to 82%. The poll interviewed 500 people and has a 4 point margin of error. Here are some of the other results:

Approved of Obama's Plan for the Deficit
before speech...............45%
after speech...............80%

Approved of Obama's Plan for Afghanistan
before speech...............57%
after speech...............83%

Thought Obama's Plan Would Create Jobs
before speech...............55%
after speech...............75%

Thought Obama Would Make U.S. More Competitive in World
before speech...............55%
after speech...............75%

Approved of Obama's Health Care Law
before speech...............56%
after speech...............65%

The president gave a pretty good speech Tuesday night. I liked most of it personally -- the economic parts, not the war parts. But whatever any of us thinks, it looks like the president did himself some good with the speech. And when you compare the president's speech to the insanity being put forward by the Republican candidates wanting his job, it looks even better. The president is not perfect, but I simply don't understand how anyone could think any of the Republican candidates would be even half as good.

Back On Top

Political Cartoon is by R.J. Matson in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Freedom Of Press Dropping In The U.S.

The United States has always prided itself on having a free press. In fact, I'd wager that most Americans think the American press is the freest in the world. I wish that was true, because one of the greatest protectors of a democracy is a free press. Unfortunately, while the press in this country is freer than that of many countries, there are also many countries that top the U.S. in this area.

One of the things that worries me is the rapid consolidation of the media outlets in this country. Too many media outlets are now owned by only a few large corporations, and those corporations are exerting more influence on what is and should be covered by the press. The only thing that somewhat mitigates this growing corporate ownership and influence over the media is the internet -- and those same corporations are now trying to get government to let them also control the internet.

But it was another growing problem that bothers the organization called Reporters Without Borders. Each year this organization ranks the countries in the world by how much press freedom they have. In this year's Press Freedom Index, they have rated the United States as having only the 47th freest press in the world (out of 179 countries). That's 27 places below the rating the United States got last year, when it was ranked as number 20.

The reason for this rather large drop is because of how authorities have treated the press as they tried to cover the Occupy Wall Street protests. Journalists have been beaten and/or arrested as they tried to cover the attempt by authorities to deny the protesters their constitutional rights. This is a shocking act by governmental authorities, but not a new one. Authorities throughout history (and around the world) have thought that threatening, beating, or jailing journalists would prevent them from covering stories the government doesn't want covered.

This usually doesn't work, especially in a democracy, but ignorant authorities keep trying it. And journalists keep on having to put up with it to get and report the news. Fortunately for us, there have always been at least a few journalists willing to put their freedom, and sometimes even their lives on the line to properly do their job. These people are heros, even in a supposedly civilized and democratic country.

I am listing below the top 51 countries with the freest press. I think you'll be surprised at some of the countries that rank better than the United States.

1. Finland
1. Norway
3. Estonia
3. Netherlands
5. Austria
6. Iceland
6. Luxembourg
8. Switzerland
9. Cape Verde
10. Canada
10. Denmark
12. Sweden
13. New Zealand
14. Czech Republic
15. Ireland
16. Cyprus
16. Jamaica
16. Germany
19. Costa Rica
20. Belgium
20. Namibia
22. Japan
22. Surinam
24. Poland
25. Mali
25. OECS
25. Slovakia
28. United Kingdom
29. Niger
30. Australia
30. Lithuania
32. Uruguay
33. Portugal
34. Tanzania
35. Papua New Guinea
36. Slovenia
37. El Salvador
38. France
39. Spain
40. Hungary
41 Ghana
42. South Africa
42. Botswana
44. South Korea
45. Comoros
45. Taiwan
47. United States
47. Argentina
47. Romania
50. Latvia
50. trinidad and Tobago

Teleprompter / Telepreempter

Political cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Politics Of Envy ? Class Warfare ?

A lot has been made about Mitt Romney's huge income and pitifully small tax rate in the last few days -- and rightfully so. It is inexcusable that some making more than $20 million a year should pay a paltry 13.9% tax rate -- a smaller rate than is paid by most of the middle class. In addition, Romney pays far less than 1% in payroll taxes (to fund Social Security and Medicare) while minimum wage workers pay more than 4% of their tiny income in those same taxes.

The only real defense, if it can be called such, that Romney has offered is that those who criticize him are engaging in the "politics of envy" and "class warfare". Well, I wonder if Romney thinks Bill Gates is envious of his income? Gates believes that the rich, like Romney and himself, should pay a larger tax rate than those who are less fortunate -- not a smaller rate. This is what he told the BBC in a recent interview:

GATES: Well the United States has a huge budget deficit, so taxes are going to have to go up. And I certainly agree that they should go up more on the rich than everyone else. That’s just justice.

BBC HOST: Is that a message you think that works with other people as wealthy as yourself, or is it just a small circle of friends — yourself, Warren Buffet, a few others.

GATES: Well, I hope we can solve that deficit problem with a sense of shared sacrifice — where everybody would feel like they’re doing their part. And right now, I don’t feel like people like myself are paying as much as we should.

As for the ludicrous "class warfare" statement, I think billionaire Warren Buffett had the best answer for that silly allegation. He said:

 "If this is a war, my side has the nuclear bomb." 

I think that adequately sums up the situation.

GOP's Preferred Medicare Plan

As usual with humor, this is funny because it contains a lot of truth. Republicans don't mind spending tons of money to lock up criminals (even the non-violent ones who hurt only themselves, like drug users) and care for them, but they don't want to spend a nickel to help the elderly (or children, the unemployed, the poor, etc.).

Romney Is Dropping Like A Rock

A few weeks ago most people, including Democrats and progressives (like me), thought Mitt Romney would be the most formidable opponent the Republicans could run against President Obama. I'm not so sure about that anymore. In the last couple of weeks Romney has become the face of Wall Street greed, and Wall Street's disapproval is rivaled only by that of the current Congress. I'm starting to believe that Romney might actually be the best Republican candidate that Democrats could hope for -- because it would make it easy for them to turn it into a campaign against Wall Street.

And it looks like many Republicans may be thinking the same thing (or maybe they just despise Wall Street as much as most other Americans do), because the Romney campaign is still dropping in nationwide polls. Yesterday I posted that Romney had blown a 23 point lead in just the last week. That 23 point lead had shrunk to only a single point (Romney 29% and Gingrich 28%). Now only one more day has passed and Romney has dropped out of the lead completely. Here are the latest nationwide numbers:

GALLUP POLL
Newt Gingrich...............31%
Mitt Romney...............27%
Ron Paul...............12%
Rick Santorum...............12%
Others...............3%

And the voters in Florida, which holds the next primary on January 31st, are reacting to Romney the same way that voters in the other states are. Here is the latest poll released regarding the Florida Republican primary:

PUBLIC POLICY POLLING 
Newt Gingrich...............38%
Mitt Romney...............33%
Rick Santorum...............13%
Ron Paul...............10%

Buy It

Political Cartoon is by Patrick Chappatte in the International Herald Tribune.

This Is Not Political - It's Criminal

The above picture has been all over the internet for the last couple of days. For those of you who may have been living in a cave and not heard about it, this is the family pet of Jake Burris (the campaign manager for Ken Aden, who is the Democratic candidate running for a U.S. House seat in Russellville, Arkansas). Mr Burris and his four children came home the other night to find the family's cat brutally killed and placed on their front porch with the word liberal scrawled on it.

Mr. Aden is running against right-wing Republican Steve Womack for the seat, and both candidates have spoken out against the vile act. Mr. Aden said:

“To kill a child’s pet is just unconscionable. As a former combat soldier, I’ve seen the best of humanity and the worst of humanity. Whoever did this is definitely part of the worst of humanity. It is one thing to engage in civil political discourse, and for Republicans and Democrats to disagree with each other, which is an expected part of the political process. Taking it to this level is beyond unacceptable. . .We suspect this is the action of a rogue individual or group of individuals who are the type of folks that stoop to the lowest common denominator instead of engaging in civil political discourse."


Mr. Womack said:

"The thought of brutalizing any animal to make a political statement, no matter what that statement is, is beyond any standard of decency. The person or people, if there was more than one, who are responsible — they definitely need to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. There should be no tolerance in our political discussion here in this nation for this kind of behavior.”

I am glad that both campaigns have spoken out against this kind of despicable behavior. But I think they make the same mistake that a lot of other people are making by labeling this as political discourse. It is not political discourse. It is a criminal act -- nothing more (and that would be true if "conservative" or anything else had been written on the poor animal). Here in Texas, the culprit(s) would be guilty of at a minimum MAKING A TERRORISTIC THREAT and ABUSE OF AN ANIMAL (and possibly some other crimes).

I live in one of the reddest areas of a red state (Texas Panhandle) that has more than its share of right-wingers and teabaggers. And I can assure you that no jury (even one composed of only teabaggers) is going to consider this depraved act as any sort of political discourse. They will consider it to be a serious crime and punish the offender(s) as harshly as possible. And they would be right to do so.

Political discourse is a treasured right in a democracy. Whether we are on the left or the right, we need to stop dignifying this type of behavior by calling it political discourse. It is not. It is criminal depravity.

Self-Destruction

Political Cartoon is by Mike Luckovich in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Romney Isn't Rich - He's Filthy Rich

Mitt Romney has folded under the pressure of demands from all sides that he release his tax returns. Yesterday he released his tax return from 2010 and an "estimate" of his 2011 taxes. He not only paid less taxes that we thought, but also made more money -- an incredible amount of money ($21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million in 2011). This is not going to look very good on the campaign trail if Romney gets to run against the president. Consider the following:

According to 2010 tax returns (PDF) released by the White House, the president paid $454,000 in federal taxes on $1.8 million earned — or about 25 percent of his gross income. Over the same time period, Romney paid about $3 million in federal taxes on gross income of $21.7 million, a rate of about 13.8 percent. Estimates released by the campaign showed that Romney expected to pay $3.2 million in taxes for 2011 on $20.9 million income, an effective 15.4 percent rate. 

Think Progress has looked at Romney's tax returns and lists six things that everyone should know about them. They are:

1. Romney paid a lower tax rate than many middle-class Americans: Romney’s returns reveal that he paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent, lower even than the low rate of 15 percent he estimated he paid last week. While this is far less than what many middle-class Americans pay, it’s also well below what wealthy people pay. The average effective tax rate for someone in Romney’s income bracket is25 percent.

2. Romney makes more in a day than the average American makes in a year, and becomes a 1 percenter every week: As Bloomberg News notes, “In 2008, according to the IRS, the median adjusted gross income was $33,048, which Romney made in less than a day. Reaching the top 1 percent of taxpayers required $380,354 in adjusted gross income, about Romney’s earnings in a week.”

3. Romney paid almost nothing in payroll taxes: Romney contributed just .1 percent of his income to Social Security and Medicare in 2010 via the payroll tax because the tax is only assessed on earned wages, but all of Romney’s income came from investments. Most working Americans pay 7.65 percent.

4. Romney has accounts in countries notorious for tax dodging: By now, it’s well known by now that Romney invests in funds based in theCayman Islands, but Romney’s returns were “crammed with information about foreign holdings” and reveal that he held accounts in Switzerland and Luxembourg, countries famous for hiding money thanks their low taxes and strict banking secrecy laws. Aides said he closed his Swiss account in 2010 because it might have been “politically embarrassing.”

5. Romney and Gingrich’s tax plans would slash Romney’s taxes: Romney already pays less than many middle class Americans, but under his proposed tax plan, his rates would be slashed in half. Meanwhile, under challenger Newt Gingrich’s plan, Romney would pay almost nothing, since Gingrich has proposed cutting the capital gains tax rate to zero and Romney earns almost all of his money from investments.

6. Romney needs four lawyers, including the former IRS commissioner to defend his tax plan: Romney’s campaign held a conference call with reporters this morning to defend and explain his tax returns, and apparently felt the need to have former IRS Commissioner Fred Goldberg, along with three other top lawyers and his campaign communications director to explain the returns. At one point, the call had to be interrupted so officials could confer with mega accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Better Bring A Lunch

Political Cartoon is by Clay Bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

SOTU - The Plan For A Better America

Last night President Obama delivered his State of the Union message for 2012. It was an inspiring speech, and laid out some fairly specific steps for improving the country and its economy. I don't harbor any illusion that the Republicans will allow everything the president wants to do, but if just a significant part of it can be accomplished the this will be a better country for all Americans. If you want to read the entire speech, you can go to this page at CNN. Below, I have posted what I believe are some of the highlights of the president's excellent speech:

Think about the America within our reach: A country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we're in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren't so tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.


We can do this. I know we can, because we've done it before. At the end of World War II, when another generation of heroes returned home from combat, they built the strongest economy and middle class the world has ever known. . .


They understood they were part of something larger; that they were contributing to a story of success that every American had a chance to share -- the basic American promise that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college and put a little away for retirement.


The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What's at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them.


Let's remember how we got here. Long before the recession, jobs and manufacturing began leaving our shores. Technology made businesses more efficient, but also made some jobs obsolete. Folks at the top saw their incomes rise like never before, but most hardworking Americans struggled with costs that were growing, paychecks that weren't, and personal debt that kept piling up.


In 2008, the house of cards collapsed. We learned that mortgages had been sold to people who couldn't afford or understand them. Banks had made huge bets and bonuses with other people's money. Regulators had looked the other way, or didn't have the authority to stop the bad behavior.


It was wrong. It was irresponsible. And it plunged our economy into a crisis that put millions out of work, saddled us with more debt, and left innocent, hard-working Americans holding the bag. In the six months before I took office, we lost nearly 4 million jobs. And we lost another 4 million before our policies were in full effect.


Those are the facts. But so are these. In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than 3 million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. Together, we've agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion. And we've put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like that never happens again.


The state of our union is getting stronger. And we've come too far to turn back now. As long as I'm president, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. . .

The Living (GOP) Dead

Four down and four to go. The GOP seems to be infested with these rich greed-zombies. Found at the blog of Yellowdog Granny.