As the Gulf disaster demonstrates the wages of narrow Republican group-think that advanced the concept that regulation and oversight cause problems (an avoidable catastrophe because the Bush administration refused to properly regulate deep-water oil drilling), a closer-to-home version of right-wing ideological extremism that could produce enormous failure for Maine played out with the Republican nomination of Paul LePage.
Within hours of his nomination, frothing supporters were busy leaving online posts accusing Democrats of being in favor of a "welfare state," or worse, actually being against LePage because they are on welfare. Clearly, the nomination of LePage has, based on the statements of his followers and his own statements, focused the lens of public opinion on a host of far right social issues.
At a time when Republicans had the wind at their back with highly qualified candidates such as Peter Mills and Steve Abbott, a segment of that party in Maine chose to frame the entire race by a host of divisive social issues. Is this really the race that Republicans wanted to be running?
Meanwhile, LePage radio ads spoke of the "Democrat" party, not the "Democratic" Party. Rush Limbaugh called the Democratic Party the "Democrat" party because he didn't think it was democratic at all, and his far-right lemmings followed. It would appear that LePage is among them.
Oddly, LePage now claims to be an inclusive centrist who will represent all Mainers. On right-wing radio, however, LePage seemed to be a reliable right-wing extremist.
Mark Tardif, Waterville
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Republicans Can't Argue Facts
Joe, you didn't argue facts. Period. You offered sorry, worthless RepubliCON drivel. Here are MORE FACTS FOR YOU:
Increases in Government Debt
Growth In Debt Held By the Public [$US trillions]
Jimmy Carter, 1977-1980: 0.2
Bill Clinton, 1993-1996: 0.7
Bill Clinton, 1997-2000: -0.3
Democratic Total: 0.6
Ronald Reagan 1981-1984: 0.6
Ronald Reagan 1985-1988: 0.7
George H.W. Bush 1989-1992: 0.9
George W. Bush 2001-2004: 0.9
George W. Bush 2005-2007: 1.1
Republican Total: 4.3
The financial markets only pay attention to the amount of debt held by the public. This is the number that helps drive down the value of the dollar and makes bankers nervous about inflation down the road.
Growth of Debt Held By "Government Accounts" [$US trillions]
Jimmy Carter, 1977-1980: 0.00
Bill Clinton, 1993-1996: 0.4
Bill Clinton, 1997-2000: 0.8
Democratic Total: 1.3
Ronald Reagan 1981-1984: 0.1
Ronald Reagan 1985-1988: 0.3
George H.W. Bush 1989-1992: 0.5
George W. Bush 2001-2004: 0.8
George W. Bush 2005-2007: 1.4
Republican Total: 3.0
Debt held in government accounts is very much a misnomer. Debt, in the real world, is a fixed obligation to make a payment on a specific date. Not so for debt held in government accounts, according to this White House.
CLEARLY THE JOE IZZO REPUBLICAN BUFFOON CAN'T ACCEPT REALITY AND CAN'T ARGUE FACTS, BECAUSE FACTS ARE NEVER KIND TO WORTHLESS REPUBLICANS.
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Hi everyone, Voisine here again. I'm sorry for lying again. I said someone didn't argue facts, truth is there were none to argue, it's hard to defend lies, my bad. My numbers were a lie. My garbage about debt held in government was total BS, in fact ol' Voisine threw darts at the dartboard to get the numbers, i throw like Johnny Damon with a broken arm....but that's a story for another time. I also apologize for the Joe Izzo Republican Buffoon remark. Fact is me, Voisine is the real buffoon and i always will be. It's why my family hates me, but they stay with me because my welfare checks are decent and as long as i sit on my duffer, i'll still get them.
Voisine: Stupid. Sucks. World hates me. Will still get welfare no matter what.
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Conserva-mom, I Voisine am wrong once again like i am on everything in life. The numbers i posted earlier are completely wrong. You must know, i'm a pathological liar, and i'm telling you this now before you figure it out for yourself. I don't work for a living, which is why i'm on here all hours of the day spewing my lies and crap that nobody believes and everyone laughs at me about. But that's the story of my life, even my family laughs at me because i'm such a dope. Sorry once again, your argument was completely on the money.
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You're wrong about the 1980's conserva-mom, the 1980's featured enormous debt created by Ronald Reagan. Trickle down economics didn't work and hasn't ever since. Plus, what Reagan did was completely undo Carter's well reasoned energy policy, making us more addicted to foreign oil than ever before. Carter actually left a balanced budget and the strongest industrial base in U.S. history, with strongest living wage jobs, but he's tagged as a "failure" by right wingnuts like you because of inflation. We had an assult on the middle class that began under Reagan. Here are REAL NUMBERS:
Job Creation
Jimmy Carter, 1977-1980: 10.5 million new jobs
Bill Clinton, 1993-1996: 11.6 million new jobs
Bill Clinton, 1997-2000: 12.4 million new jobs
Total: 33.6 million jobs created over 12 years, or 2.8 million jobs per year
Ronald Reagan 1981-1984: 5.2 million new jobs
Ronald Reagan 1985-1988: 10.8 million new jobs
George H.W. Bush 1989-1992: 2.6 million new jobs
George W. Bush 2001-2004: 0.2 million fewer jobs
George W. Bush 2005-2007: 5.5 million new jobs
Total: 24 million jobs created over 19 years, or 1.3 million jobs per year
Government Spending
How much did the government spend for every dollar of revenue?
Jimmy Carter, 1977-1980: $ 1.16
Bill Clinton, 1993-1996: $1.25
Bill Clinton, 1997-2000: $1.01
Democratic Average: $1.16
Ronald Reagan 1981-1984: $1.31
Ronald Reagan 1985-1988: $1.38
George H.W. Bush 1989-1992: $1.34
George W. Bush 2001-2004: $1.27
George W. Bush 2005-2007: $1.24
Republican Average: $1.29
The difference between $1.16 and $1.29 may not seem like a lot, but the impact on the national debt is huge, especially when you consider that $1.29 applies to 19 years, and the budgets under this president are so much larger.
Isn't REALITY an inconvenient thing for RepubliCONS like you?
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Our economic history justifies that conclusion?? You've got to be kidding me. Have you forgotten the 80's? Were they a mere blurr? Sounds like you stepped in some Missouri hog poo. The 80's were about trickle down economics, and, if I remember correctly....and I DO! They were some of the most prosperous years our nation has ever seen. I only hope that we get another Reagan to dig us out of this Carter-like administration. I'm not sure what your little analogy proved, anyway. This guy who wanted a pig farm was one guy, not a huge corporation. This is classic trickle up economics. And you, very nicely, I might add, summed up why it can't work.
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I'm saying the Republicans can not talk out of both sides of their mouths and expect us to believe them.
Your incentives are in fact corporate welfare. A re-distribution of wealth based not on what has been earn. I don't buy your assumptions that 1%ers create jobs nor that giving them incentives grows the economy. Some years back a gentleman approached the Missouri legislature with a proposal to built a huge hog feed lot along the Mississippi. He needed a new road, waivers on environment regulations, a place to load hogs into refrigerated railway cars. All total he wanted 10's of millions of dollars. Passed the Missouri House. When the Senate took it up, a staffer estimated that the feed lot would each day produce enough manure to cover the State of Missouri to a height of 3 feet. The proposal died; the promoter disappeared.
Incentives given to working people do grow the economy. For every dollar in unemployment benefits spent $1.93 in economic growth is produced. Economic grow is a function of productivity growth. If your 1%ers invest 5% of their re-distributed welfare, that will increase productivity if spent wisely. 60% of major private computer projects fail. That doesn't help productivity. It all depends on how the money is used.
I prefer that it trickles up not down and I think our economic history justifies that conclusion.
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So jalbrecht...what you are saying is you don't see a problem with the top 1% paying more than 50% of the fed taxes....with half of this country collecting Fed subsidies. That means us working people pay what is left. Do you also understand that the top 1% create a disproportionate amount of job through the reinvesting of their wealth. But if that wealth is taken by more and more new fed legislation the 1% may just park their wealth in offshore accounts or invest elsewhere. If the feds and our state could realise they could make for more money in taxes by creting incentives for the 1% to invest in US projects it will create more jobs and the feds get a wider tax base. Then you can pay for the social programs but you can't kill the golden goose 1%ers. Like it or hate it that is the reality of it all.
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The Republican Party says that the top 1% of wage earners are overtaxed by Federal Income taxes and that the working man is getting a almost free ride. Didn't I just see that half of Americans are paying no federal income taxes at all. Then how could it be that the era of taking from the working man is about to end. You at least should agree with the Republicas daily talking points.
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"allowing Mainer's to purchase health insurance outside of the state." What's extreme about that. Is it legal in any state?. Why would ayone want to do that. You lose regulatory control, you make civil suits more difficult. The Insurance companies not subject to anti-trust laws would simply move to the state with the least regulation, agree amongst themselfs what to charge for what, and no one could do anything about it. Why would allowing this increase competition when the insurance companies aren't reguired to compete. A single payer health insurance fund is extreme? Mass. has it. The Federal Government almost passed it. Paying for the health insurance fund is extreme by taxing things that contribute to the need for the fund? Libby Micheal sounds very mainstream.
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Jalbrecht....you are right, Libby is mainstream for causing to hold Maine back and the problems she and her fellow leadership have dropped on us. Without competition, our insurance rates run 30 to 40 percent higher than say, New Hampshire. The federal government and it's ramrodding of legislation the majority don't want is another topic, stay on task please. You obviously are joking with the mainstream comment and trust me, everybody get's it. The democratic extremists who have been in power for over thirty years in this state continue to over tax (No joke there right? Top 5, some say #1), over regulate (No joke there, ask a logger or fisherman), over spend (No joke there, they just tried to pass 102 new taxes and fees. Oh wait, bowling was exempt, do you know why jalbrecht? That is a joke!) Your last sentence, about taxing us for health insurance, ummmm, DIRIGO IS A STELLAR EXAMPLE, another joke. As I said, and your reply confirms, the extremists are scared they are about lose power in Maine.
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Everyone should read it. Written by two key LePage operatives and then passed through the Knox Chairman to cover its origins so LePage would have "deniability", the platform is a collection of just about every extremist rant for the last 30 years. But we don't even have to pin this where it belongs. The Republican Party in Convention assembled adopted this platform by majority vote. And they are representative of the party as a whole aren't they? Besides my favorite of encouraging child abuse, the platform rejects such favorite targets of the extreme right-wingers as "the global warming myth", participation in "one world government", and the UN Rights of the Child treaty. By the way the platform has almost nothing to say about specific Maine problems.
Now LePage is running away from his Party's platform, but not its positions nor their supporters.
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WOW! The Republi-CONS and other assorted CON-servatives are on the honey wagon this morning. You can gloat all you want about the upcoming election, but something tells me that just like previous Republi-CON victories, it will be short-lived because the Republi-CONS continue to do NOTHING. Remember Newt and his CON-tract for America? What a colossal flop. How about the McKernan administration? What a disaster! NO ONE has said the Gulf oil spill was Bush's fault. IT IS the fault of those who rush to deregulate safety and other business controls in the name of the almighty profit margin. Bush was certainly one of those, along with the vast majority of the assorted CONS. We even have the CONS (you know-the people who say government should let the states take care of themselves and let business take care of its problem) are now clamoring the loudest because the Gub'mint hasn't rushed in to the save them. Sorry folks, you don't get to have it both ways.
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what a clever clever person you are cranky yankee...the way you have woven CON into so many of your cute little phrases...hehehe Republi-CON...CON-servatives...oh what a witty witty thing you did there. Did you stay up late, even on a school night to pull an all nighter to come up with that "fresh" idea? Wow you must be a hit on NPR and the expresso bars you frequent. Let me see if I can do it...CON-versely I find your CON-trived arguments to be CON-voluted and CON-structed on a foundation of falsehoods.
By the way if job creation is the focus, before McKernan you had THE worst governor to come along and kill jobs. Joe Brennan. I was a commercial real estate broker at the time of his administration and we were getting called in by large companies to consult them on how they could vacate the real estate in Maine. It all revolved around workmans compensation. Companies were telling me that their facilities in Maine cost them more than all their other operations COMBINED.
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Geez Mark,
Let me get this straight, it's Bush's fault? Ok, there's the beginning of your credibility issue. Let's not discuss the current administration of 'hope & change' refusing help, and what a bang up job they have done...oh, that's right, Bush is in charge....
Local extremists? Like Libby Mitchell being the poster child for extremism. Hmmm...she has voted against allowing Mainer's to purhcase health insurance outside of the state. She voted for a 2.14% to fund the failed Dirigo health system and and also for the beer, wine, and soda tax, again, to fund the failed Dirigo health plan. Mandatory paid sick days, blah, blah, blah.
I'm afraid Mr. Tardif and his other extremist friend are afraid. They are afraid the tax and spend movement of the past 30 plus years which has made the state of Maine an over taxed and unfriendly business climate where our claim to fame is exporting jobs and our children. Sorry Mr. Tardif, big government, big spending, and continuing to take from the working man is coming to an end.
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That SHOULD be enough to bring him to his knees. Why DO people laugh at Creationist? Because they are stupid, that is why, do some research and you will see what these loonies have in store for us.
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Paul LePage has stated on several occasions that he will be focused on fiscal issues while Governor. The Democrats have created a monster of a financial problem and it will need every ounce of Paul's considerable talents to dig Maine out of the deep, Democrat dug, chasm that we find ourselves in.
While issues such as the one you raised might be high on the Democrat agenda, it isn't on Paul's. He focused on the work in front of him.
Democrats will try to confuse the Maine voters by talking social issues, while LePage will be talking financial issues. I submit that most Maine private sector employees don't have the time to talk about social issues. They are worried about things like paying bills and keeping their jobs.
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Kudos to Mr Stone. I love the cadence to this. It's like trying out buzz phrases. "narrow republican group think" "avoidable catastrophe because the Bush....." "right wing ideological extremism" "enormous failure.....LaPage" "a host of far right social issues" "far right lemmings" "LePage......right wing extremists" Mayor LePage is asked a question, and he answers the question, without any political hyperbole. If you don't like it, don't vote for him. From what I have read from the record, he has created very compassionate programs for people to get out of the very cruel and binding system of handouts. And he lets them keep their dignity. Like most Mainers, I personally am going to give Ms Mitchel a very fair hearing, I don't view her as the evil architect of Augusta difficulties. Name calling, dastardly buzz phrases, really doesn't help your cause Mr. Tardif.
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Yes, the oil rig explosion was a tremendous disaster. The response of the Obama administration in containing and capturing the oil has been just as disastrous. In my opinion, the party of the Democrats is intent on letting the disaster continue for the publicity it generates in moving the cap and trade bill through Congress. Obama has been more focused on golf and on blaming BP than he has been on containing the oil spill.
Tardif is the radical. LePage has been creating jobs and serving the public in ways that Tardif never has. The Democrat controlled legislature in the Augusta has catered to the SEIU and is bankrupting our state. We have an unsustainable wage and benefits package for state employees and a decreasing number of private sector jobs to support the burdensome leviathan in Augusta.
Tardif is a jerk. Plain and simple. LePage is a man of the people. He knows what is to work for a living and he knows how to lead our state back to prosperity. We don't have to live in poverty. Maine was once a wealthy state. No longer. For prosperity and commonsense, I'm voting for LePage. I find people like Tardif nauseating.
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"Maine does not need extremists."
The title should read, "Maine does not need any more extremists."
We have to many in Augusta now. Let us not put one of them in the governors seat. Vote for the working man. Vote for Paul LePage.
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"Maine does not need extremists"....and yet the democratic primary chose Libby Mitchell....furhter to the left than LePage is to the right....that will be the mistake of their party as they gave up the chance of owning the Blaine House for 4 more years or longer by selecting Ms. Mitchell.
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Mr. Tardif is entitled to maintain his Extreme Far-Left opinions, but it's good to know that most people realize what he's trying to do with these LTTEs. If you're not familiar with the reality of what Mr. LePage stands for, please take some time and visit his website at http://www.lepage2010.com - especially the position statements and informational videos. If you get to know the "real" Paul LePage, you will see that he is exactly what Maine taxpayers need right now.
** LePage for Governor 2010 **
http://www.lepage2010.com
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South Portland Call Center Closes Abruptly
http://www.wmtw.com/news/24057146/detail.html
Thank you Libby Mitchell. For more of the same, vote Democrat.
I wonder though, when everyone is unemployed, and there are no more businesses, where is the money going to come from?
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I am sure the Libs will blame Bush for the loss of this business.
Personally, when I sit down to dinner at night I dont want to be bothered by any of these call centers wanting to sell me lightbulbs.
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what an awful way to find out you've lost your job. i heard that that sort of thing happens in china (the country), but i didn't think that being informed of a lay off by a note on the door was how we did it here. so sad.
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is Mark. Same tired liberal talking points. Let's look at them.
1. The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is "Bush's fault." To a liberal, everything is "Bush's fault." Maybe Bush designed the drilling platform BP used? Maybe he was working on the rig when the methane bubbled up and ignited?
2. Paul LePage is focused on bringing Maine's runaway state government under control. In case Mark missed it, the Democrat majority in Augusta owes Maine's medical providers hundreds of millions of dollars. They have an unfunded liability to Maine's teachers, state employees, police and fire retirees of at least $6.5 BILLION in benefits owed. The Rainy Day Fund has been drained to empty. He has stated that social issues are not on his agenda.
The Democrat party loses badly when financial issues come up. They are trying to avoid talking about the sorry financial shape they have created (with Libby Mitchell at the forefront since 1974) and "Change The Subject" to "social issues." Not going to work this time, Mark.
3. Paul LePage an extremist? Hardly. Paul is on of 18 siblings. He worked hard to survive his childhood. He worked hard to get through high school and college. He has an MBA. He has had a very successful business career. He has helped Mardens grow from six to twelve stores. What does Mark see about Mardens that is "extreme?" He has been elected Mayor of Waterville three times. Are the majority of Waterville voters "extreme."
The real extreme is this race is the extreme leftist politics of Libby Mitchell. She never met a tax she didn't vote for. She just tried to foist 102 new taxes on Mainers and was rejected 2:1 at the ballot box.
The rules have changed, Mark. Maine voters are not as gullible as in the past. They have the Democrats figured out. Maine's Democrat Party of today isn't the party that Harry Truman and John Kennedy represented.
Look forward to your next attempt, Mark. We are not buying it anymore.
Paul LePage. Native son of Lewiston. Our next Governor!
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Here's Tardif's monthly spew of ad-hominem nonsense. [This comment has been edited by the administrator]
The Democrat (Isn't that clever?) party has been peddling the same message for 30+ years and they're terrified of what's coming in November. Republicans, and quite a few crossover Democrats and independents, nominated a conservative and all Tardif and other far lefties can splutter is: We don't like the message, so shoot the messenger!
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This comment has been edited per our commenting policy. If you have any questions you can e-mail me.
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