the plutocrats’ view is an incredibly myopic view. They are so consumed with their own magnificence that they can never see that they’ve shot the golden goose. All of their ill-gotten wealth depends entirely, not on their genius (which they are convinced is colossal) but on one thing and one thing alone: the purchasing power of the average American. Being that they’ve thoroughly screwed that, they’ve also thoroughly screwed themselves (although the time to them feeling the pain will be longer than ‘The Others’). They are just too astoundingly stupid to know it yet.

The Obama we now have is the Obama we will get if he wins re-election.

This is not correct.

What we have now is ‘election mode obama’, similar to what we heard in 2008. Its a lot more pleasing than what we will have if obama is reelected, which will be 2009-thru-most-of-2011 obama, which was a pretty horrible center-right-to-hard-right corporatist republican thing to witness.

in a sane world, progressives would be expending all their energy to defeat republican obama. Instead we get to vote for the obama 2nd term republican agenda of dismantling social security and Medicare, yet more barbarism and civil rights destruction, and a whole lot of phoney hot air.

They [the right] are talking about their freedom to tell others what to do, their right to curb the freedom of others.

I don’t think that’s quite it. The rtight is talking about individual freedom for a select plutocratic ruling class to do whatever they want. The point above follows.

But if the Republican Party collapsed completely, I’m afraid the Democrats would eagerly rush in to fill the vacuum – the ones that aren’t there already,

it is sadly (disgustingly) true that the democratic party is already the moderate wing of the republican party.

…and there is no “left” with any authority in the US.

what the Virginia state rape bill demonstrates clearly is that republicans care nothing of zygotes and fetus. Their interest in abortion lies strictly in using the abortion topic as a means to exert their will in oppressing the free-will of women.

FISA is just one of obama’s many civil and human rights travesties.

Pacifists should take the opportunity of the republican/conservative/catholic bishops nonsense to bring it up.

I don’t understand this notion that women who support reproductive freedom, choice (and it is my body dhammit), translates into “liking abortion,” as if needing an abortion is a desirable, even enjoyable situation.

part of the travesty of republican/conservatives turning the right to an abortion into a ‘hair-on-fire’ circus is that it takes away from the fundamental tragic situation of a woman needing to decide to have an abortion.
A caring society that was serious about the gravity of her decision would provide her support and constructive tools for her to make her decision, not scorn and blithering idiocy.
A caring society would have far fewer abortions than the republican/conservative distopia of America

interesting how its always republicans being convicted of things they accuse democrats, minorities and anyone not-them of doing, like voter fraud, marital infidelity, corruption, etc. Always the republican caught; rarely anyone else. republicans truly are the most loathsome, indecent humans on Earth.

its not that they “play for keeps”, its their total disregard for the Constitution, the American people, and the country. They are psychotically possessed of greed and power. Exerting their will to enrich themselves is the totality of their miserable existence.

I believe the word is: hypocrite. The word is synonymous with republican.

what is the “hours of research” required for the ryan’s plan ends Medicare assertion? Read ryan’s effed-up plan! Its in the plan. No research required – just honest, cognitive thought.

although it will be interesting to see how well his inspiring rhetoric works the second time around after everyone’s seen how hollow it is.

this time around, all obama has is ‘those mean republicans wouldn’t do anything I asked them to even though I licked their feet.’ It’ll be tough to rhetorically flourish that, even for such a talented bullshiter

A bunch of obamabot’s will keep on eating obama’s sh*t-pie, but there won’t be nearly enough of them to win. The great uninformed masses won’t be swallowing that turd.