Name some public figures whose politics more or less represent yours, then we can discuss whether you/they are “moderates.”
I was surprised that Ryan did not go into a bit more detail about his specific plans for how to deal with budget issues. Plans that he has publicly released like:
- cut taxes on the richest 1 percent of the population in half.
- Raise taxes for 95 percent of the population.
-Institute sharp cuts in Medicare, achieved by giving seniors vouchers and telling them to buy their own insurance. Money would be saved by making the vouchers small enough that those with the funds would have to supplement to get good insurance, while those with no funds would get poor coverage. - 25 percent cut in domestic discretionary spending over a decade, which would include energy policy, education and the court system.
Oh wait. I think I figured out why he did not mention his priorities in a nationally televised address…
What kind of bullshit test is that? All of your political opponents must neatly pigeon hole themselves for you? I think not.
What kind of bullshit nonsequitur is that?!
It’s not necessarily a bullshit test. After all, it seems to be a pretty convenient barometer.
“I believe in A, B, and C.”
“Oh, do you know who else believed in A, B, and C? Hitler.”
Obama can, and did: Medical liability tort reform, corporate tax cuts and simplification, earmark ban.
Is Obama a moderate?
I’m sure you accurately summarized his proposals, but can we have a cite? I mean, just for completeness.
Well, here is the Medicare proposal:
And, of course, there is this part:
I can only imagine that was added to make the plan financially feasible. One might note that in 2010 the Fail-Safe Mechanism would have been tripped, as Medicare funding was 49% of general revenue (http://facts.kff.org/chart.aspx?cb=58&sctn=170&ch=1813).
How about Bob McDonnell, a pretty moderate Republican? Or Mark Warner, a guy (and a Dem) I voted for last two times (gov and Senator)? Or Jim Webb, my other senator, another Democrat? I also like both Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman (both run the Homeland Security committee in the Senate - and I’m an executive with a large Government contractor that focuses on DHS so I know their work probably better than almost anyone on this board). They are both moderates (although I fully expect to hear some whining from this board about Lieberman being conservative, and if it were a righty board, I’m sure I’d hear similar whining about Collins being liberal).
The liberal I like most is probably Juan Williams. I also like blog-libs like Saletan and some of the other Slaters. Speaking of Sunday talking heads, I also like George Will. I even like some of the things Obama has done, although frankly his (and Reid’s) fiscal recklessness has pretty much sentenced this country to eternal indebtedness to China.
No, it’s OK. I don’t mind the education of those here. If I can save one soul, my work is done.
Now, I hope the level of discourse is above the lines of, “You said you like this guy! He had [insert obscure position here]! You disagree! You lie!”
Only time will tell. From where I sit, it’s nice to provide a counterbalance to the blatant idolatry for The Messiah that is regularly on display on the SDMB. I’d like to think most here are reasonable (besides the obvious ones, people like Dio… then again, I’m pretty sure that based on that poster’s positions, they are probably a Rovian plant trying to make the left look stupid).
Coincidentally, anyone who disagrees with any of the regulars on the Hannity forums is invariably called a “Liberal”.
:rolleyes:
The Left has regularly criticized the Obama administration for their positions and actions. If anything, it’s the centrist Democrats who have that hero-worship thing going. Obama is hardly a liberal…
yeah, you didn’t take the time to dive into the specifics. That’s OK, let me help you. You are welcome, don’t thank me, just pay it forward.
As for tort reform, I rely upon the AP’s analysis and factchecking:
We’ve already addressed the earmark ban upthread. But let me repost it here, for your own edification. I’m happy to help.
I can’t imagine why that conversion thing isn’t working out, Mr Smashy. 
No, I expect it would go more like, “You said you like X and his politics are like yours and you call yourself a moderate?! X is a moderate like Boehner is a Communist!” (And the writer of the text-in-quotes probably would be right.) You see the difference?
Wow, I didn’t know the AP factcheck columns were written by Republicans:
“Obama has expressed openness before to this prominent Republican proposal, but it has not come to much. It was one of several GOP ideas that were dropped or diminished in the health care law after Obama endorsed them in a televised bipartisan meeting at the height of the debate.”
I’m sure med-mal reform would have been more likely to make it into the final bill had the Republicans been at all inclined to vote for it. And saying that it’s Obama who kept promising to work with the GOP on HCR only to renege pretty much pegged my irony meter.
“House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has promised that no bill with earmarks will be sent to Obama in the first place. Republicans have taken the lead in battling earmarks while Obama signed plenty of earmark-laden spending bills when Democrats controlled both houses. As recently as last month, Obama was prepared to sign a catchall spending measure stuffed with earmarks, before it collapsed in the Senate after an outcry from conservatives over the bill’s $8 billion-plus in home-state pet projects.”
Left unsaid is that many of those “$8 billion-plus in home-state pet projects” were inserted by Republicans.
Brain, I don’t know many conservatives/tea party types who are pro- Gay marriage/civil unions, pro drug legalization, pro Obama’s approach to ending OIF and OEF asap, pro Defense cuts, and for raising many taxes once the economy has more green shoots (including the gas tax and higher marginal rates). I even thought most of ARRA was a good idea, although many of the specific programs were completely retarded, especially the high-speed rail and green energy claptrap. I’m also a fan of limiting filibusters for Supreme court nominations, something that the GOP used to do (didn’t they approve Ginsburg with something like 90+ votes? And Kennedy ‘borked’ Bork, even though the ABA approved him… IMHO, that’s what started the most recent bad blood between the parties, that and Gore v Bush in 2000)
Maybe I’m cut more from the cloth of Tsongas, I don’t know.
Leaving aside the assumption that the GOP or Democrats are representative of the American political continuum, the problem with this is that I can’t name 3 GOP positions, period.
The list goes:
- Cut taxes.
- Er…
- Profit!