rdubnpk Well, the ex CEO of a hospital company that was fined 1.75 billion dollars for medicare fraud is now the governer of my beloved state, Florida. How far have we fallen in our choice of elected officials and the overall electoral process for this to have happened?? Electing a known crook just because he is the Republican candidate??? That he was the Republican candidate for starters?? What a sad state of affairs....
I know what you mean rdubnpk. Here in NY we have the opposite extreme. Our new governor is the son of the most hated governor we had and he won because he was a Democrat. The man has never had any job that wasn't political and he was fully supported by the same greedy unions that helped to create the mess. If anyone wonders why our nation is in the sad state of affairs it is in, just look at three states, Nevada, New York, and California. All three states are in a real mess and what did they do? They put in the same people who got them into the mess to begin with. Well, I did my part. I voted for anyone who wasn't an incumbent regardless of party. Kind of hard with some because they were running unopposed. When I came to those who were unopposed I just didn't vote for that office.
Well that's what block voting gets you.. people go into the booth and look for the D's or R's and go to town.. not knowing anything about the people they are voting for other than their affiliation. IMHO ballots shouldn't show affiliations at all.. if you can't even bother to learn the candidate's name you have no business voting in that race!.. and there sure as heck shouldn't be a "vote all Democrat/Republican" option like some states have... it's just embarrassing really... but it's the sad reality.
Life, you are absolutely right. As far as I'm concerned they should get rid of all political parties and cut down on the number of people we have to vote on. Geez, do I really need to vote for every judge and every single minor official? My favorite billboard of all time was one I saw on I-10 between Houston and Baton Rouge. It said "You can't fix stupid, but you can vote them out!" I wish more folks would have gone that route.
Maybe you should have to pass a test, like getting your drivers licence, before you can vote... Questions: 1) Have you spent more time watching Jerry Springer than you did going to school? 2) Have you ever been abducted by aliens? 3) Is everything you see and hear on TV news true? etc.... If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions please leave the booth immediately, walk to the nearest ocean and swim away.
rdubnpk They interviewed one of the "enlightened' voters who helped elect this crook and his comment was "we all have skeletons in our closet; we just have to forgive and forget". What part of billions of dollars in medicare fraud are we supposed to forget??? He says he was totally unaware of any of the goings on which, since he was CEO, makes him either a liar or grossly incompetent. Either way, what are these idiots doing electing him governer. In the paper today it indicated he spent $73 million dollars of his own money on the campaign. Can you say "buy me an office".
At least, it is finally safe to watch TV again! Initially, the "come with me" ads made me laugh. Then after hearing the NC whine of "come with me" about 3 million times, not so much.:banghead: Did you know that AS lets her husband keep a freezer on the front porch of the house? OK, that was the end of it for me. I'm guessing you were rooting for CC, then?
Don't you think that all elections have gotten that way? It has been "pay to play" for years and years. Why would people spend tens of millions of dollars to get a job that pays a few hundred thousand? Maybe some are looking to get into the history books, but mostly it is selling influence. Look at Clinton. He never had a real job in his life and now he's a multi-millionaire. Obama will be the same thing. He'll leave office worth millions and he was bought and paid for by the Service Employees Union, the Teachers Union, as well as the Trial Lawyers and we certainly can't forget the fine folks at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who contributed heavily to Obama. The one active politician who tried to change the "pay to play" environment was John McCain and we all can see where his dedication to trying to save the country got him. Noone wants to change the system who is currently in the system. People talk about term limits until they get elected and then there is no more talk about term limits. It's really hard to be optimistic about the future of this country. The right to vote should involve more than being a warm body, but it never will. I heard a caller into a radio show yesterday who was so happy that his candidates, Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer, had won in California. Then the caller asked who the governor of Washington, DC was. The host tried to explain that Washington, DC is not a state and, as such, has no governor. So the caller then asked who the senators were from Washington, DC. This guy had no clue about anything but he still had the right to vote.
Unfortunately, in New York, the opponent of Cuomo made himself look like an idiot. A lot of people I spoke with said that Palladino might shake things up a bit, which is probably true. However, when he threatened a reporter, among other things, he kinda blew it. (Although I don't agree with your statement that Cuomo was the most hated governor, Patterson isn't doing so well & look at Spitzer). As for the person that ran against Gillibrand (sp?), I never heard of him.
My comment about Cuomo, Mario, not Prince Andrew comes from the fact that when we finally got rid of him he lost every county north of NY City except Albany. He had plans in the works to tax births and deaths. As for Patterson, I think he was trying to do the right thing but as long as the Legislature is run by Sheldon Silver, NY will be one gigantic mess. I think the guy who was running against Gillibrand was a Congressman from Central NY, but I'm not sure what district. I know Carl Paladino and he really isn't a bad guy, but he doesn't really have the thick skin needed to be in politics. It doesn't sit well when an Italian guy says to a reporter "I'm going to take you out." Not a good choice of words to put it mildly. Add to it his ill timed rants and there was no way he could win. Too bad in a way because I think Albany needs someone like him.
