Former Gov. Angus King (I-ME): The Democrats Beat Themselves

[BurtWorm]

Take this (easy) quiz ftom Maine's former governor, Angus King, and read the rest of this essay for a thoughtful criticism from an independent observer on what happened this election nationally. (King doesn't discuss the trainwreck of an election that happened in his homestate, thanks to poor coordination between the Democrat and an independent candidate, allowing a boneheaded bagger to win the governorship). This is from the Bowdoin College Daily Sun:


http://www.bowdoindailysun.com/2010/11/angus-king-the-democrats-beat-themselves/


Angus King, a distinguished lecturer at the College since 2004, is a regular contributor to the Bowdoin Daily Sun. In his latest post, the former two-term governor of Maine says last week’s election losses by Democrats might have been avoided if the White House had just shouted out its successes.


In looking over my first three Bowdoin Daily Sun posts, there seems to be a pattern developing wherein a quote from my dad becomes the text for the ruminations that follow. Today, however, my source is different—one Ellen King, schoolteacher, community volunteer, and mom (mine). It seems somewhat uncharacteristic, but I can swear I remember her saying (on more than one occasion), “If you’re going to do a good deed, be sure people know about it.” Would that Barack Obama’s mother had said something similar to him, because the political debacle of last week could have been prevented had the President (and his Democratic mates) effectively and repeatedly told the real story of the last two years.

To illustrate my point, we’ll have a quiz. No peeking until you’ve made a good faith effort to come up with your own answers. Here goes:

1.) Name the automaker (of all those in the world) for which U.S. sales increased the most in the last twelve months. Now name the second biggest “increaser” and the company that produces both brands.

2.) Name the automobile manufacturer with the second-highest total U.S. sales in the last year, just behind Ford and ahead of Toyota.

3.) Name the automaker that came within an inch of going out of business less than two years ago but was saved by federal intervention led by Barack Obama.

4.) Identify on the following graph the bar for the month when Barack Obama was sworn in as POTUS:



5.) What is the significance of this number: 20 million?

6.) (Trick question) How much have Barack Obama and the Democrats raised taxes?

7.) What was the largest single component of the “Dreaded Stimulus Package” (DSP)?

8.) If you had invested $100,000 in the stock market on the day Barack Obama was sworn in, what would it be worth today?

9.) How many U.S. troops were in Iraq the day Barack Obama was sworn in, and how many are there today?

10.) What percentage of personal income was total federal, state, and local taxes in 2009? Where did this level of taxation rank in terms of the last 60 years?

****

...


<Sample answer:>

7.) What was the largest single component of the “Dreaded Stimulus Package” (DSP)? The biggest middle class tax cut in U.S. history was the largest single component of the DSP, accounting for $300 billion of the $800 billion total. If you didn’t realize this, don’t feel bad; a recent poll revealed that only 8% of the American public knew that the DSP contained any tax cuts at all. Whose fault is that?

...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. You can always count on Angus King.

[sally cat]

2. Yep.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Well played.

[NWHarkness]

4. Bullshit

King's endorsement of Cutler's vanity candidacy was the straw that broke Libby Mitchell's back. Without their meddling, Libby would have won easily. Now he's pointing fingers?

Maine is getting a teabag governor because of Eliot Cutler's ego.

[BurtWorm]

5. Well, I wondered where he stood on that.

I don't understand why Cutler didn't run in the Democratic primary. Was this some scheme of King's to create an Independent dynasty do you think? Did King write this because Mainers are blaming him for LePage?

[David__77]

7. Well the people of Maine thought more highly of Cutler than Mitchell.

So who was the spoiler or meddler?

[NWHarkness]

8. So,you think the duly nominated Democrat was the "spoiler"?

That seems a rather dubious proposition to me.

Cutler's sense of entitlement was such that he didn't feel he needed to go through the primaries.

As for King and this piece,it's a case of "right message, wrong messenger". It's disingenuous for himt o write about why the Dems lost, without mentioning his own efforts to defeat the Democratic candidate for Governor in his own state.

[David__77]

9. I don't know the answer.

I just know the result. It could well be that this independent was an ass. I'm just sorry the right-winger won.

[Crystal Clarity]

6. Herein lies the crux of the matter

"If you are going to be doing a good deed, be sure people know about it".

If indeed the midterm election(s) disaster can be considered an indictment on Obama (as so many have been saying) I consider this to be his biggest mistake. He's done alot of very good things in two short years. It's a shame more people don't know about his many accomplishments.