*****Bush triumphs in Congress elections*****

HeXp£Øi±

HeXp£Øi±

Well-Known Member
Mondale faces a return to retirement after his defeat
Republicans have scored a dramatic victory in mid-term elections to the US Congress, winning control of the Senate and increasing their majority in the House of Representatives.

The sweep means President George W Bush should find it easier to push through his agenda of tax cuts and enhanced homeland security, as well as giving him stronger backing in the "war on terror". Republicans hold at least 51 seats in the 100-member Senate, with just Louisiana to declare, where Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu faces a 7 December runoff.

The Republicans also retained their majority in the House of Representatives.

Mr Bush is only the third US president in a century to make mid-term gains, after Franklin Roosevelt in 1934 and Bill Clinton in 1998.

"President Bush and the Republican Party tonight have made history," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Republicans won their 51st Senate seat with a narrow win for Norm Coleman in Minnesota over former US Vice President Walter MondaleThe Democrats won the penultimate seat to be declared, in South Dakota, where incumbent Tim Johnson narrowly beat challenger John Thune.

Republicans have so far taken 224 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives - leaving the Democrats trailing with 204.

Thirty-four seats in the 100-seat Senate were being contested as well as 36 of the 50 state governorships.

Governor battles

The Democrats were able to find some consolation in the governorship races, where they will reduce the Republicans' 27-21 advantage.

They achieved key gains in the industrial north, taking the states of Illinois, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

But they lost out in the south and failed to take Florida, where they had vowed to target Mr Bush's brother Jeb, the incumbent governor. Election officials in Florida said voting apparently went off without any major hitches, despite anger at the botched election in 2000. Traditionally, the party holding the White House loses seats in the mid-terms, but Mr Bush campaigned feverishly to buck that trend.

House speaker Dennis Hastert described the president's contribution as "invaluable".

Key races that observers were watching closely included:

* In California, Governor Gray Davis fought off a challenge from Republican Bill Simon after a particularly bitter campaign.
* In Georgia, Republican Saxby Chambliss upset incumbent Senator Max Cleland, a disabled Vietnam War veteran whom he attacked on national security in a bitter campaign
* In New Jersey, Democrat Frank Lautenberg won a Senate seat after replacing scandal-plagued incumbent Robert Torricelli on the ballot
* In North Carolina, Republican Elizabeth Dole - a former transport secretary and the wife of failed presidential candidate Bob Dole - defeated former Clinton aide Erskine Bowles for a Senate seat
* In Maryland, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the daughter of Robert Kennedy, lost her bid for governor to Republican Congressman Robert Erlich - a blow in a normally Democratic state
* In Florida, Katherine Harris, the state's former secretary of state who certified President Bush's victory, easily won a House seat
* In Hawaii, Republican Linda Lingle defeated Democrat Mazie Hirono, to become the state's first female governor and the first from her party for four decades

Both parties spent unprecedented amounts on the campaign, targeting key areas. Election officials in several states have reported higher than expected turnout for some hotly contested races, but turnout was reportedly thin elsewhere.

Much of the focus had been on the agonisingly close race for the Senate, which the Democrats controlled by just one seat after Vermont Republican Jim Jeffords turned independent.
WATCH/LISTEN
ON THIS STORY
The BBC's Nick Bryant
"Washington woke up to a new order"
Newsweek's Eleanor Clift
"It's a very personal victory for the President"
Defeated Governor of New York Mario Cuomo
"I'm a Democrat and I feel the embarrassment"
Full coverage

Key races
Winners and losers
Mondale bows out
Georgia upset
Relief for Jeb Bush
Mrs Dole's victory
A Kennedy fails
Congress seats
Results Latest: 18:09 GMT
House:
204 seats 227 seats 2 seats
Senate:
47 seats 51 seats 1 seats
Seats: House/Senate
Democrats: 204 / 47
Republicans: 227 / 51
Independents: 2 / 1

Source :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2408153.stm
 
Although i'm generally much more agreeable with republicans, i can't yet say what i feel about this. Holding off on sharing my thoughts.....
 
HeXp£Øi± said:
Mondale faces a return to retirement after his defeat .
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I didn't know he was even still alive. :p

I voted for him in '84... then I went home and prayed that he would lose. I was a little conflicted about that election, to say the least. I'm not sure how I would describe my politics in those days. I was registered as a Democrat and voted for Askew in the primaries. I was a fiscal conservative, but not opposed to social spending on principle. I felt we had gone too far towards socialism under Carter, and I gave Reagan credit for the fact that the economy was recovering. I was suspicious of military adventurism, but not opposed to fighting if it was in self-defense. Beirut pissed me off immensely, and that was the biggest factor in my decision not to vote for Reagan. I just couldn't forgive him for sending our soldiers into a situation where they were sitting ducks for some idiot with a truck full of explosives. :(

As far as the Republican control of Congress, it will be nice if they do something constructive with it. They can be real idiots sometimes, though. We vote them into office because we're tired of the Democrats giving away our money, and instead of doing something about that, they try to ban abortion or impeach the president for getting a blow job in the oval office. They fritter away their political capital over issues that people don't really care about, and end up turning the public against them.
 
Here is his single biggesy conquest. Making Tom "Puff" Daschle whine just a liitle more :D

By David Kranz Argus Leader published: 11/6/02[/siz]

A power shift in the U.S. Senate will bring some noticeable changes, including a more aggressive attitude toward Saddam Hussein, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Wednesday.

Daschle lost his leadership position soon after Republicans took control of the Senate in a surprising national election-night success.

“It is too early to tell what will happen on Iraq, but you will probably see a far more hawkish position and confrontational tone to their approach,” Daschle said.
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All I really want 'em to do is make the tax cuts of last year permanent and eliminate the estate tax. Just getting both of those through would be a huge victory over the long term.
 
Social Security, for all the whining going on about it from both sides, is still a good idea for those who actually need it. Trouble is, everybody seems to have a right to it, and that's where the system has failed. As for tax cuts...why in the world would somebody be for tax cuts when the US is still in a deficit? Cutting spending would be a better idea. Congress can start by eliminating their $80,000 a year pensions after serving only 1 term, their outrageous wages, and by basing their paychecks on the average of the income of their constituents. Make it illegal for a congressman to add things to the budget that nobody really wants (20 C-130J's last year that the AF didn't want but was forced to buy by a spending bill rammed through Congress), and eliminating studies that nobody needs..except the people doing the study.
 
Remember when Reagan said ok to raising the taxes, after cutting them drastically, because a democratically controlled congree promised to cut spending. Reagan signed & congress spent more. That is the key to loewring taxes & defecit-reduction. Spend less. Our esteemed congress however has a built in 5% per annun inflation so if they spend only 4.997% it's called spending cuts. Pure bullshit.

Yes flavio I listen to Rush. Beats the hell out of top14 radio. He's funny & sometimes he's even correct.

The SSA is not bad. They need to put it back into a trust-fund & get it out of the general funds. The we could actually see what happens to it.
 
I don't mind government based forced retirement savings in principle. Its just that Social Security is just a raw doubling of fed taxes that is spent by the government as part of the general funds. There is no Social Security trust fund... never has been... never will be. The Congress has to pass an annual bill to float the cost of expendetures for that year. When you die your family gets like 200$ in burial money and nothing else. The general payback to date for those at the start of the system is rather grand. The SS taxes were miniscule and it only took about 8 years of retirement to get everything back. Todays people are paying 7 times as much and will be lucky to see 1/3 of what they put into it.

Pundits say that private citizens who control their own retirement monies would run the risk of a serious downflux right at retirement age, leaving them in a bad position. The way around that is to require all of the SS based funds to be in nil risk moldy government bonds at that lame 2 % rate. Even at 2% it kills regular SS.. which has a negative rate of return.

THe major thing about it would be that a privately held retirement would be real assets of the individual that survives death. Even after the despicable 55% death tax it would leave the family with 45% that would have otherwise been 0% Holding the money in government bonds keeps the feds flush with the pork that they love.
 
But, but , but Daschle said it was in a trust-fund. Just the other day. I heard him (I think it was Puff) :rofl:

That is one of the most misguided terms around & not one media whore has the cajones to ask, where Mr Speaker, exactly, is this trust fund?

Sometime around 2010. the boomers quit working, Where will we be then? The market will begin losing money & the SSA will take 10 people for every retiree instead of the usual 4.
 
HomeLAN said:
All I really want 'em to do is make the tax cuts of last year permanent and eliminate the estate tax. Just getting both of those through would be a huge victory over the long term.
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I could not agree with you more. Nothing more "wonderful" than getting a huge bill from Uncle Tom (daschle) after you have just lost a loved one. :eek: Death to the Death Tax!!! :headbang:
 
unclehobart said:
Pundits say that private citizens who control their own retirement monies would run the risk of a serious downflux right at retirement age, leaving them in a bad position. The way around that is to require all of the SS based funds to be in nil risk moldy government bonds at that lame 2 % rate. Even at 2% it kills regular SS.. which has a negative rate of return.

THe major thing about it would be that a privately held retirement would be real assets of the individual that survives death. Even after the despicable 55% death tax it would leave the family with 45% that would have otherwise been 0% Holding the money in government bonds keeps the feds flush with the pork that they love.
Click to expand...

I think that I would take the SS money that I save and put it into Real Estate, or something with better return and low risk (CD's, and no not the music variety :) ). Most intelligent people deal with their own retirement money anyway (401k or equivalent). I would rather not put extra money into a system that will definitely fail!!! Don't see the point in this :confuse3:

~Intel_Peep
 
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