Just Republicans?
I don't hear much of a message from community organizer Obama.
Neither do I see most Congressional Democrats ready to confront our economic realities.
When they are out on the street (unfortunately probably K Street), they can reflect on why.

LAWMAKERS NEED TO PURCHASE THEIR OWN HEALTH INSURANCE!!
Why am I footing their bill? They're not paying mine...

Why don't we eliminate government subsidies and tax breaks for corporations. After all, they are going to breed.

Yet according to a recent poll commissioned by daily Kos (or a Kos member), a majority say they'd vote for Palin as GOP candidate and would vote for a GOP candidate.

So what's up? Certainly I agree w/Mr. Hightower, but it seems that, receiving food stamps or not, people are still seeing themselves as gop. Very durable propaganda I'd say.

Or maybe it's because Obama's administration seems like bushlite in many ways, bailing out bankers, they're still getting huge bonuses, patriot act, still around, gitmo--still open & 50 people who have not been convicted of anything will continue to be detained, reaffirming Bush's DOJ stance re: gov't secrecy & ability to do warrantless search & seizure/survelliance and so on.

Budget of aggression? Still bloated & specifically exempted from any spending cuts.

So the differences are? A few. But there's a whole lot of angry energy & fear that out there & neither the Obama administration nor Congress (& definitely not an oblivious, corporate profits obsessed S.Ct majority) seems to be able to offer it any constructive release. Apparently because they are unable to stop themselves from kowtowing the the corporate elite (maybe a few Congresspeople do).

the health insurance reform bill looked like farce to me. Just made the entire uninsured population free for insurer pillaging & making sure people will be underinsured & unable to pay for medical care (especially preventive) because all their disposable income is going towards paying health insurance premiums for a policy that covers almost nothing.

Someone here had a a good idea, take away Congress' health care that we pay for and watch thing change fast. I've known people that had to collect food stamps for a little time and I can assure you that they weren't "comfortable."

Hey, a great number of the independents are almost as out of touch. They may not be such whack-jobs on the birther or socialist issues, but they don't really understand how far the Middle Class has fallen since January, 2001 (which BTW, is the beginning of this decade).

Is there any hope that the south might secede again? I have a hard time seeing what the rest of us would loose.

How about Democratic a$$holes like Max Baucus?
He's way the hell out of touch, How many Democrats voted for supplemental funding for our illegal conflicts? A lot!

I read a commenter the other day say that America has always been a Capitalist Country (which is true), bla blaa bla. The truth is that America has always been about the struggle for fairness/ balance between the Ideas of Capitalism and Democracy. If you look back at our history, it’s a back and forth struggle. Every time they step on the pedal towards Un-restrained Capitalism, the s#*t hits the fan somewhere. Sometimes Economically, sometimes Socially, and sometimes as in War. And that struggle between Democracy and Capitalism has been filled with corruption all along. Nobody wants a socialist country, nobody I know, and especially me, I value my Freedom. But Americans have always known when to push back toward Democracy, to make big plans, and as a result have always recovered nicely. Now is one of those times. It is time that the common man felt some corrections around them and within themselves.

Many people on the right have their hearts in the right places, as I think they realize the seriousness of our future. I agree with them in many areas. Freedom, Independence, Democracy and the United States Constitution, Patriotism, Fair Taxation (and fiscal accountability), Work/ reward relationship (many would call this capitalism), Free Speech, and Justice.

That’s all there is folks; if we could succeed in all those areas we would have our great Country back. Of all of those Values and Ideas above, only the work/ reward relationship is going strong. Many people on the right are focused on that one capitalist ideal and ignoring all the rest. Which value above is not, right now, threatened in the steadfast pursuit of the work/ reward, ownership relationship? I’m not saying to do away with that Ideal, capitalism in many areas works well, it is a powerful tool. I’m just saying to look at history and realize a few things.

When are we people going to realize that there are some things you have to Privatize and some things you have to Socialize, and realize the benefits of the combination. Is that too hard to understand? If you don’t see that, then stay the h@ll off my roads. If I catch you on a public road again, I’m gonna sue you. And you still owe US for those 12 years of education. With interest. Among other things.

We need to make OUR government work, not tear it down or eliminate it. And we need real Journalism and TRUTH to do that. Fox Corporation is not real Journalism or Truth. Not the whole truth for sure. The “right” is standing in the way with their BS.

Seriously, I am a Grpahic and Web Designer, and I make, more or less half of what I made in 2000, by the numbers, having been laid off in the local NYC region crash following 9/11. Since that time, I have struggled to build a freelance practice from zero. But my real-world buying power has fallen as well. In 2007, a slowly growing business began to implode with the failing economy, and expenses too a sharp uptick, most painfully, the health plan I must pay for on my own.

So far I have at least kept working, and we have avoided going on public relief. But it's been a near thing.

But I expect to retire when they wheel my cold dead carcass away from my workstation.

Keep shooting yourself in the foot progressives! You want to call Obama Bush-lite and then wonder as the Republican agenda grows stronger with corporate media declarations of victory. Does the environment matter to anyone? Or the Supreme Court? How do you create a winning side- by deserting your key player on the field- if you are a liberal it seems that is your strategy.
Bloggers on this site sound just as anti-government and "ted krazinski"-like as any tea-bagger on Fox News.
We are not being served well by any media these days- the corporate is so Right wing and the blogs are for teabaggers- left, right and in-between.

The Democrats have also proven to be amazingly out of touch. Witness the "healthcare debate", even now Obama wafts an evidently disingenuous query into the air looking for ideas to more successfully reform healthcare, and ironically he wants to hear from doctors specifically. Ironic because he does not want to hear from Dr. Margaret Flowers, because she represents 60%+ of American physicians who believe a single-payer, Medicare-for-all healthcare plan has the elements meeting well-established criteria. They have allowed the right to cast true reform as socialist, putting the lie once- and-for-all to the notion that there is a dime's worth of difference between R's and D's. So that makes the MA Senate vote all the more troubling. Democrats needed to pull that one out and they choked, big time. Jim's covering a bit for Dems in these dark hours, but that ain't gonna cut it.

"Bauer and Linder are living proof that when it comes to leadership, America has too many 5-watt bulbs screwed into 150-watt sockets."

Americans stubbornly elect, and re-elect, into office precisely those people who will enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else, but politicians are being called dim lightbulbs?

The few have succeeded magnificently in their endeavors of unbridled avarice because the fears and prejudices of the many are so deep that exploiting them has proven to be a sure formula for success in pitting Americans one against another.