I have always wanted to give the republicans the benefit of the doubt...

[WCGreen]

Because, in the end, I believed, they would put the country's need in front of their party's ambitions.

But now, I doubt the benefit of extending anything except the blame for the mess the country is in today.

I worked in the Ohio State House back in the late 70's when the democrats enjoyed an over whelming majority in the House, a marginal majority in the Senate and a strong republican governor who was very pragmatic in his approach to governing.

They all knew where to draw the partisan line and they all knew how to get things done.

Granted, the wishes of the people were not always addressed, but the big issues of the day, dealing with an economy that was literally going south, was the number one priority of all players.

Now, we have republicans who are more concerned with playing to the bat shit crazies on the fringe of their party.

I truly believe that in a presidential election year, the loony fringe on the far right will drive moderates to the Democratic party if, and it's a big if, we can somehow put together an agenda that is easy to understand, that we can make a clear argument for our side and easily lay out the successes of this administration.

If not, this rest of the teens are going to be very rough for the people as the conditions now familiar to those on the economic fringes creep upward and engulf the middle class...

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Hey haven't checked out your blog in awhile

How are you doing? Getting close?

Will check it out soon! Take care of yourself!

Hawkeye-X

[WCGreen]

3. I;m doing fine right now...

I have taken a bit of time off from the blog but am getting back with posts about my alcoholic past...

[tabatha]

2. This pack of republ icans is truly evil.

They are hell bent on destroying "entitlements" and continuing with war.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Some folks say there will be blood in the streets...

The Republicans are behaving as though they have completely lost their minds, and want only to run the country for their own benefit.

And the hell with the rest of us...

I am starting to be a little bit scared.


Recommended.

[Joe Fields]

7. Everyone needs food and shelter, Peggy.

And with more and more homeless, and many more to follow, push will come to shove.

Desperate people sometimes are forced to do desperate things. I see it coming.

I too, am somewhat afraid for our country.

The politicians are mainly window dressing, giving us the illusion of democracy, while they secretly do the bidding of corporations, whose interests are not our best interests.

Funny thing about greed, though. It always seems to come back and bite you. Like it did Bernie Madoff. Like the banks and other lending institutions who made fraudulent home loans.

As Malcolm X once said, "the chickens are coming home to roost."

Only problem is that a whole lot of innocent people are getting hurt in the process.

[mix]

5. I never had that illusion. I came of age politically under Raygun. nt

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. I doubt there is any benefit in that!

Those bastards have been bad news since Hoover at least.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

8. That's Why The Republicans Regaining Some Power Will Kill Them

They can't just sit back and say, "Look! Everything's not perfect yet! We tried to help, but those mean old Democrats just stopped us!" Now they have no excuses when things fail to get better (and in States like Ohio, where our half-wit voters put Republicans back in control of EVERYTHING, when things get exponentially worse). I've been saying it a lot lately, but this will be the shortest "resurgence" in history, because the Party of no ideas is now going to have to actually take their backward-ass policies and somehow make chicken salad. They won't be able to do it, and the voters will turn on them just like they turned on Democrats this time around.

Not to mention the fact that the Republican Party has no adults in the room anymore. All they have is batshit crazy. And when people really get a feel for who whack-jobs like Huckabee and Romney REALLY are, they'll run screaming for the exits. That's why the Republicans nominated John McCain in 2008. As scary as it might sound, he was actually the MOST moderate candidate they had. And the people in the middle of the political spectrum ran away from HIM in droves. The White House is as safe as a baby in its mother arms for 2012. Obama will win a second term, he'll have to expend very little energy to do it, and he'll win HUGE. If the Republicans pander to their whack-job base and nominate a fellow lunatic like Sarah Failin, Obama will win with numbers that will make Walter Mondale snicker.

Out of curiosity, who did you work for in the Ohio Statehouse? I'm assuming it was when Rhodes was Governor? When I was in college, I did an internship for a State Senator named Rob Burch, who at the time was running for Governor. He got slaughtered because he was nothing more than a sacrificial lamb (I think the Ohio Democratic Party was holding back Lee Fisher, their main big gun at that time, that year because they were afraid nobody could beat Voinovich). His right-hand man, and the guy I really worked for, was Anthony Celebrezze (the son of the famed Ohio Supreme Court Justice). It was interesting and more than a little bit eye-opening as to how politicians really operate.

[WCGreen]

9. I worked for Francine Panehal and then Speaker Riffe...

I was out in the spring of 1980 when I came back to Cleveland. Couldn't handle Columbus at the time and needed to get back to sanity so that I could finish up college...

I remember Burch and the party went with landslide Lee as their main guy and he lost the AG's office to I think Mike DeWine...

That happened when I was in my first term as the Treasurer of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party,

[ChoppinBroccoli]

10. Lee Fisher Lost To Betty Montgomery.........

.......when he tried to regain the AG's Office. I find it interesting that for as long as I've been politically aware here in Ohio, everyone has said that Lee Fisher is the heavy hitter of the Ohio Democratic Party, yet I can't remember him ever running for anything and actually winning. Makes me wonder if Jennifer Brunner could have beaten Portman this time around.

[WCGreen]

11. Lee was beaten by Montgomery when he ran for re-election...

He had won the seat in 1990.

My memory is getting a little foggy as the decades run together.

In 1994, Dewine beat Joel Hyatt.

Fisher was beaten by Taft when he ran for Governor in 1998.

Fisher was tied into the east side money and they wanted him.

He came from a safe senate seat and was never that liberal to begin with.

I remember in 1998 we had looked over Taft's donations and discovered that Art Modell had contributed over 10 grand to his campaigns over the years.

This was right after the Browns move out of town.

I wanted to print up Raven Schedules with Bob Taft's face on the back and hand them out at Jacobs Field prior to the play offs. But since I was only the treasurer of the party and wasn't a high paid consultant, they ignored my idea.

I really think it would have made a difference to Browns fans to know that the governor of Ohio was accepting money from Art Modell...

[KoKo]

12. When you worked there was the "Old Days" things (as you say) are much different now1

How do you deal with a "Tea Part'er" funded by outside Billions?

How? :shrug:

[WCGreen]

13. There were only three networks and newspapers were the

predominate way to parse out politics...