Voter anger sends tremors through Ohio -- Sunday Chicago Tribune

[FULL_METAL_HAT]

The GOP is in REAL trouble in their "heartland":

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0604230398apr23,1,474804.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Voter anger sends tremors through Ohio

By Tim Jones
Tribune national correspondent
Published April 23, 2006

LONDON, Ohio -- Looking for trouble? Well, come to the convenient, one-stop shop called Ohio, where the shelves are crammed with citizen crabbiness, outrage and high-octane bile.

There is plenty to provoke anguish--the economy and mounting job losses, the war in Iraq, rising health-care and gasoline costs. Preachers are squabbling, and the reality--not just allegations--of a "culture of corruption" has taken root. The state lost $50 million in a rare-coin scandal, and hapless Republican Gov. Bob Taft, who pleaded no contest to failing to report free golf outings from lobbyists, has been blamed for nearly everything short of murdering Santa Claus.

With a litany of complaints that would resonate from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Ore., Ohio this election year is America in political miniature, a little shop of public-opinion horrors that speaks volumes about what bothers people nationwide. Like the state tourism pitch, "Ohio, the heart of it all," it's all right here.

"What you're seeing is an ongoing distrust of major institutions," said Mark Weaver, a Republican Party strategist in Columbus. "It's corporate America, it's state and local government scandals . . . and I think the war in Iraq and the price of gas fuel the discontent in that people feel they've lost control over events."

<snip>

Job Losses...

59% want GOP out...

50 pastors filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service this month claiming that two evangelical Christian churches are engaged in political activities in violation of the tax code....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0604230398apr23,1,474804.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

If the GOP's GRIP on Ohio is slipping, then there is real opportunity for that grip on the nation as whole to be loosened come November, one angry vote at a time...

... If the voter's anger focuses on the way the GOP uses its GRIP on things like computerized machines that allow them to steal the people blind...

[brentspeak]

1. The GOP may be in trouble

but the Democrats really have to take this opportunity to prove to Ohioans that they, the Democrats, are the right leaders to elect. Just being the "opposition party" or "the other guy" isn't going to do it. Otherwise, expect Crooked Crony Ken Blackwell to be sworn in as governor.

[mtnester]

24. Ohio will know MUCH more come next Wednesday

that will be the day after the primary. We will see if Ken "I Been Promised" Blackwell comes through the primary for Repub candidate for governor. I believe he will.

It will be the death knell for Repubs in the general election if he does. If Petro MANAGES to come through, all bets are off and Strickland will have a fight on his hands.

Oh, and BTW - let's see if Bob Ney is indicted at the right time...that will be the insult to injury.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Except that there is a new Osama tape. Let's see how scaring these

people affects their anger.
Sometimes I think they are so stupid, all you have to do is wave a picture of Osama at them and they go running back to the "great white father" Bush.
:puke:

[leesa]

4. I know. Will they EVER realize Bush IS Osama?

[MissWaverly]

5. right before Kerry was to speak on ABC this week

Oh, there's a new Osama tape, what a coincidence.

[rodeodance]

33. Osama seems to be tracking Kerry??--well, not quite...but.......

[efhmc]

3. "that people feel they've lost control over events" ....They are just now

seeing that. Well, better late than NEVER!

[EFerrari]

6. Maybe the Trib just now is reporting it. There were some very

very angry people in Ohio November 2004

[efhmc]

7. I hope that they can support that anger into the next election.

[Doctor_J]

12. Apparently not enough

since Smirk won OH again.

[EFerrari]

18. If Smirk won Ohio, I'm the Queen of England.. n/t

[autorank]

8. " ongoing distrust of major institutions" Wait until election day. K&R

This headline could be the day after election day. Why? Because Ohio above all other states is
going to have one screwed up election. I don't care if the machines work perfectly, anything that
seems out of place will be taken by * opponents as cheating. There are plenty of reasons for this in
Ohio and elsewhere.

Voter anger before, during, and after elections...that's the new democracy thanks to the cheats
who defraud the electorate and the quislings who perpetuate it by cooperating with the dumbest
election system imaginable.

Highly recommended...voter anger and this post!

[stellanoir]

9. put your hands on the voting machines !!!

yikes

[xchrom]

10. getting them to vote democratic party one time is one thing

getting them to believe in left leaning politics is another.

[Joe Chi Minh]

11. Don't kid yourself. The people are not doing so badly

in South America. You don't seem to have any conception of the enormity of the meltdown of the Republican party this government has caused.

Everybody has to earn a living, get educated, have medical treatment, if not for themselves for family members. The social security net has been and continues to be routinely plundered to give the rich ever more and ever larger tax breaks. Indeed the same goes for the Treasury, to fund a war that was never intended to be won.

I was going to ask you how stupid you think the American people are, but I think it's actually more a question of how masochistic. I would suggest, a lot less than you imagine. Left-leaning means in favour of all the people, the national interest, and Americans have been forced to wake up to this reality. It's not a lesson they'll forget in a hurry. They're not as dumb as us in the UK, softened up by a welfare state now taken for granted; they've had it too hard.

[xchrom]

13. ok? you're not here and you're going to

lecture me about what it's like to live with these folk?

i don't think so.

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. You don't think so? You don't think, period, do you?

As a matter of fact, it's not even a nationality thing, it's not even a homo sapiens thing, it's about the most elementary instinct for survival. Doubtless, why you failed to address the points I raised; and why the Republican Party is going to be toast for a long time, if not for ever.

What's more, it looks like the courts are going to go through those low-lifes like the wrath of God. Indeed, it is doubtless an expression of God's wrath.

[xchrom]

23. puhleez

you didn't raise any points -- what i said and what i stand by is that is a very different thing to win one election than to educate voters to what governing from the left is.

so what if they throw somebody in jail now?

since reagan -- do you know how many conservative judges have been seated?

or how many conservative judges waiting to be seated ''liberty'' university has turned out and are working in government?

rush limbaugh won't have gone away -- the nra won't have gone away -- concerned women of america won't have gone away -- jerry falwell won't have gone away -- and on and on.

the goal has to be to break political parity.

to educate and get the american people to know that politics from the left is more on their side than that of the right.

i think the democratic party will win in 06 -- but these margins are tight -- and the electorate can swing easliy unless the left brings more people solidly into their corner.

[Joe Chi Minh]

25. Our posts seem strangely asymmetric in their purport, so

there's not a lot of point in my continuing. You appear to be totally unaware of the scale of Kerry's victory. And that can only be wilful nescience.

It's the same with the military. I've never believed the rank-and-file military are dumb enough to be the passionate Republicans the media proclaim. Far from it. The media rely on its back-up operatives on these blogs to make a "storm in a swift boat" seem like the Apocalypse.

[xchrom]

26. i don't understand kerry's victory?

:rofl:

[Joe Chi Minh]

29. It's no laughing matter to the people here, but you do identify

yourself very clearly. If we'd ever needed it.

Your name wouldn't be Walden O'Dell, would it?

[xchrom]

30. you get funnier by the minute.

:rofl:

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. Since when has being in a place made anyone an expert on it?

There are plenty of foreigners who are more familiar with the topogaphy of the UK than me, but I doubt that they know the country better, or its people.

You'll see.

[autorank]

19. "The map is not the territory." Somebody said that and it's true.

The UK did just fine before the war in sniffing bLiar out and protesting massively. Scotland and Wales are always on target with their positions but something happened to stop the anti-war movement. Maybe everybody just decided that Blair and Brown were such giant horses asses, there was no point in taking them seriously.

My favorite bLiar-ism is his policy on global climate change (quite an impact on the UK): "adapt."

The man is a beast, in the worst sense of the term. He'll have his day. Maybe he could be the "Gulf Stream Thermometer," asked to swim a bit daily to see if it's still warm enough;)

Cheers!

[Joe Chi Minh]

21. He's Thatcher in drag, Auto. But a much, much scarier version.

He's corporate Beast's tool par excellence.

[OzarkDem]

16. Good response

"left leaning politics"? How about "real world politics" :wtf:

[OzarkDem]

15. That's why Rove is focused on Ohio

If the GOP loses here in 2006, they will lose in 2008. They know it, that's why they're pulling out all the stops.

Dean and the DNC are helping and the Ohio Dem Party is working overtime. They've fielded good candidates, but they have an uphill battle against GOP dirty tricks and news media manipulation. Most of the news outlets in these GOP areas are heavily controlled by the GOP.

Help get the message out to voters, and donate to Ohio Dems campaigns, as well as the Ohio Dem Party.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

17. Santa Claus was murdered???

Why doesn't anybody TELL me these things!!! :shrug:

Damn Buckeyes....

[Wilms]

20. K&R n/t

[iconoclastNYC]

27. It's not that it was SLIPPING

People People People

Put aside your red-state hatred of Ohio for a minute.

They never had more than a 51% hold on power.

They gerrymandered the state senate and house.

And stole a bunch of elections. Thier "super majority" was a LIE.

So this shouldn't be a big surprise.

[melissinha]

28. Buh-Bye Blackwell!

:kick: Good riddance!

Best wishes to the good people of Ohio!

[rodeodance]

31. -----a "culture of corruption" has taken root.-----best news yet!

[rodeodance]

32. "It's scary because it trickles down to everybody. --but not just in OHIO!

For those who pay attention to what makes America tick--and what makes it dyspeptic--it's worth keeping an eye on Ohio, a state that reflects most of the major demographic components of the nation and the state that delivered a second term to Bush in 2004. While the poll numbers suggest buyer's remorse, political analysts say the sense of disappointment goes deeper and beyond the vote for president.

London, whose Main Street is lined with handsome 19th Century brick storefronts, is between approaching economic troubles. Delphi Corp., the bankrupt auto parts supplier, last month announced plans to shut five facilities in the region--one to the east in Columbus, and four to the west in Dayton.

"It's scary because it trickles down to everybody. It's going to affect all of us, sooner or later," said David Eades, London's mayor and a General Motors retiree. Eades said he worries about his retirement benefits as GM downsizes.

It's not a single issue that drives the discontent, but a combination of economic uncertainty, health-care worries, a sense that scandal-prone politicians are clueless to the challenges of everyday life. And then there's the war in Iraq......

[rodeodance]

34. hate to be wet noodle but this is a good warning--just cause Repugs

are in trouble that does not mean they will vote Dem.

... 59% want GOP out

For better or worse, this is an election year in Ohio. May 2 is primary Election Day, and voters will choose nominees for major state offices, including governor. A recent University of Akron poll said 59 percent of Ohioans want to oust the Republicans, who have controlled state government for 16 years.

If U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, implicated in the Jack Abramoff scandal, is indicted, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Robert Bennett says he will pressure Ney to resign. Democrats acknowledge, though, that Republican troubles do not necessarily mean the public is clamoring for the Democrats. The political atmosphere is volatile.