Ed Schultz Urges President Obama To Help In Wisconsin - MSNBC

[WillyT]

Ed urges Pres. Obama to help in Wisconsin
The Ed Show - MSNBC
Fri, May 25, 2012

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755822/vp/47572837#VpFlash

[MannyGoldstein]

1. I think he said he'll be putting on his comfortable shoes

He'll be there soon.

[teddy51]

2. He better get his ass in gear, times a wasting.

[WillyT]

3. They're Directly Under His Golf Shoes...

[doc03]

4. Wouldn't it be bad for him if he went to Wisconsin and

Walker still wins?

[lastlib]

5. CURSE your negativity......!

That filthy lying POS (a phrase I previously reserved solely for GWalkerB and RBC) Walker is NOT going to win!

[WillyT]

6. I Don't Think So... To Use A Battlefield Metaphor...

if he picked up the American/Democratic flag and charged the hill...

We would be much more likely to follow him again in November...

We are looking for a leader...

[Ellipsis]

7. It be cool if he should up on the day before election.

...just sayin'

[gateley]

8. He'd get the support of a lot of Wisconsin Dems in November! I think he should do it. nt

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. You mean like the "support" he & Russ Feingold got in the midterms? That the "support"...

you mean? Why couldn't another high ranking surrogate go instead? If he chooses to go, I'm perfectly fine with it, but the last poll I saw of WI "union households" indicates that 40% of them plan to vote to reelect Scott Walker. I have a lot of faith in the president, but I don't know that he can fix stupid. And wouldn't Feingold, having served in the US Senate, have stood a better chance against Walker?

:edited to correct spelling:

[JDPriestly]

10. Too often, Obama has failed to support us grassroots Democrats.

How can he expect us to support him if he doesn't support us?

He is always catering to the conservative Democrats. Maybe he should do some polling and see how far he gets in key states without those of us a bit further down toward the grassroots.

[Tarheel_Dem]

11. Yeah, I've seen some of the "support" he's gotten from "the grassroots". Try Harder.

At least you seem to recognize that, theoretically, it's a two way street, even if you have no actual practice.

[JDPriestly]

12. Actually, in 2008, I traveled from California to a key state that did not go for Kerry in 2004.

And right now, I am preparing to campaign for Obama.

It is we activists who get out and campaign. Obama lost some of us in 2010 because he let us down with regard to health care.

What we get with Obama is better than the alternative, and I will be campaigning for him (already started), but I'm really dedicated, and it is taking all the dedication I've got.

I'm just hoping that if Obama wins in 2012 we can get a real progressive to run in 2016.

[Tarheel_Dem]

13. "hoping......we can get a real progressive to run in 2016."

I'll settle for center left, just as I did in '92, '96, '00, '04 & '08. While I realize the frustration of those who may be further left than myself, I have to ask what was gained by the folks who "felt let down" in 2010? While you were feeling "let down" and filling up boards like this with their "disillusionment", the country was taken over by the wingiest of the wingnuts, and we don't have a whole lot to show for the little temper tantrums thrown by the "activists".

I'm no activist, I'm just a solid rank-n-file 4th generation Democrat, who can be counted on to vote in every election, and freely open my wallet for what I believe in. But, this big tent can get awfully crowded sometimes. We range from the very conservative to the uber liberal, and everything in between. The problem is, both extremes blame the other for our current dilemma. In the center is where things actually get done. Someone has to act as a bridge, and that bridge has been former Pres. Clinton, and now Pres. Obama. Let's be honest, before his conversion, the guy you supported in the primaries was a Southern center left moderate, until he decided to run President.

I'll be honest, I'm sometimes baffled at the level of vitriol aimed at Democrats who try to build bridges to the business community. What would/could a "real progressive" do without the help of Congress? Have you seen the 112th Congress?

The problem for "progressive activists" is that they have failed time & again to find that candidate that the whole party could coalesce around, who wouldn't be laughed off the platform. I'll be nice, and not name names this time.

[JDPriestly]

22. Actually, I was center until Bush was elected.

I haven't changed my opinions or my stances. Obama, who grew up from a political point of view, in the post-Reagan era just moved the center to the right -- pretty far to the right.

For example, in the late 1970s and in response to Nixon's excesses, our Congress passed laws that prohibited a lot of snooping into the lives of Americans as well as some campaign finance and other privacy protections.

Obama has abandoned much of that legislation.

And may I point out that Obama and his sycophants complain about an uncooperative Congress, but Obama has very, very rarely used his veto powers. And he could, because he might be able to get Senate votes behind him if he just so much as established a credible record suggesting that he was willing to use his veto to stop the bad Tea-Bagger legislation. (FDR vetoed bills 635 times; Obama vetoed them 2 times. Granted FDR served much longer than Obama, but . . . . FDR's Congress were for the most part more consonant with FDR's politics than Obama's have been. If Obama is so opposed to the Tea-Baggers, he should wield his veto a little more often.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_vetoes

I was in on an internet conversation between Obama supporters and Obama just a week or two before the announcement regarding the final Health Insurance Reform Bill. Obama stated then that he favored the public option. But that is not what we got, yet Obama signed the bill Congress sent. And he never even allowed single payer advocates to be heard.

I will vote for and work for Obama, but I have strong reservations about him -- especially when it comes to human rights including privacy rights.

We spend far too much money investigating our fellow citizens. It is ridiculous. We should be spending that money on education.

And we should impose tariffs on imports so that we can support those of us who can't get work because we import so many cheap, foreign junk.

Obama has been very short on ideas that can solve the problems of the country. But then, his opposition is worse. In fact, Romney is a nightmare.

[Tarheel_Dem]

23. "Obama and his sycophants".

That says so much more about you and your "strong reservations".

Which is why I have my "reservations" about this statement, and makes me wonder why you would bother?

"I will vote for and work for Obama, but I have strong reservations about him -- especially when it comes to human rights including privacy rights."

Which legislation would you have used "veto powers" where the president hasn't? I'm assuming if he didn't use his "veto powers", he agreed, and therefore signed the legislation, right?

"Obama has very, very rarely used his veto powers......."

Your quibble, it seems to me, is much more based on the president's style rather than substance. You seemingly want a pitbull, frothing at the mouth. That's never going to be Pres. Obama, it's not his style. Place the blame for the current situation at the feet of the independents and the "disillusioned" who allowed circus freaks to take over the US Congress.

[JDPriestly]

25. He should have vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act that could

be interpreted to permit the arrest and incarceration of US citizens without trial.

He should have vetoed laws that permit eavesdropping on Americans' electronic media communications and use without a warrant.

He should have vetoed the expansion of Homeland Security and cut back instead.

He should not support the privatization of our schools disguised as a charter school movement.

He should appoint more liberals to his cabinet.

He should have vetoed the bill by the Republicans to continue the tax cuts for the very rich.

He should have handled the bank bail-outs that occurred on his watch very differently.

He should have reigned in the Federal Reserve more than he has and, instead of bailing out rich people via Federal Reserve credits and loans, have bailed out struggling homeowner families.

I could go on and on. I am not voicing a vague discomfort with Obama's style. I like his style. I like his personality. I love his family. I like him personally very much.

But he is too generous, much too generous to conservatives.

[Tarheel_Dem]

26. I can only take your word for it. But let me ask you this?????

When's the last time a "real progressive" came even close to winning the nomination of the Democratic Party? I'm thinking Howard Dean, and if we're honest, much like Edwards, Dean was a moderate until he ran for president. That says to me, that rank-n-file Democrats DO NOT agree with you, and the influence being exerted on the progressive wing of the party by Libertarianism. And if polls are to be believed, this president has hell'a high support from within his own party.

So, in order for us to draft and run a "real progressive" what do you think has to happen? Where are these throngs of high profile "progressives" who could rise to national prominence?Mind you, I'm not all that concerned about the list you've laid out above, but then I have to assume that I'm not as "liberal" as you. As for the president' cabinet, I'm satisfied that they are center-left.

I like moderation. In food, in drink, and in my politics. If you're successful at driving out moderates, then we'll be stuck in perpetual gridlock. Someone has to be the grownup. What's happening in Washington right now may be good for bloggers, radio talk shows, political teevee shows, but it sucks for the American people. The rise of internet participation in government has been a two edged sword at best, and has only served to give the more extreme voices on both sides a much bigger platform. More's the pity.

[JDPriestly]

27. I am an old-time Democrat and was always considered a moderate, rather conservative

Democrat.

Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has pulled away from me and the traditional values of the our Party. It's a terrible shame because Obama has left working people and the poor virtually unrepresented while signing bills that benefit the rich. The handling of the BP spill was utterly shameful. The handling of the foreclosure crisis similarly weak.

It's unfortunate, but it has to be admitted.

So, I am a moderate. It's the DLC that has pulled our party way to the right. The thought of relatively frequent drone attacks and of a Democratic president exercising his veto only twice in four years, during two of which Republicans controlled the House is shocking. That's not moderate government. That's complicity with conservatives.

[Tarheel_Dem]

28. Again, I call bullshit. However, I'm just glad you're in CA where you can't do much damage.

You sound like a Naderite to me, and being a Naderite makes one appear to be constantly whining. Your tried & true, although worn and tired talking points, are what's "utterly shameful" to me. "It's unfortunate, but it has to be admitted."

[JDPriestly]

29. You are absolutely wrong. I'm an old-time Democrat.

I proudly wore my Adlai Stevenson button to grade school every day.

I rejoiced when Kennedy was elected and cried and mourned when he died.

I worked hard, very hard on the McGovern election campaign and worked extremely hard on subsequent campaigns whenever I was living in this country and had the time to do so. I have walked my precinct and tabled and worked for Democrats every election. And I will do it again. But I am very disappointed with Obama. In my opinion, he is more conservative than any Democratic president who has served in my lifetime. He is weak on workers' rights, on money in politics, on economic justice, on human rights.

He is excellent when it comes to foreign policy but lets himself be managed by our military. However, I kind of forgive him that one because no president has been able to manage our entrenched military bureaucracy. That bunch always manages the president. And if it can't, it sabotages that president. So, my guess is that Obama probably has to please his masters on military policy.

[B Calm]

14. I'd like to see Obama go there and support

the Wisconsin democrats in their battle to get rid the fascists that over taken their state.

[WillyT]

15. Kick !!!

[99Forever]

16. Should Obama be a no show...

...for Wisconsin, it confirms that which his Democratic detractors have been saying for a couple of years now. AND that ain't good.

[CK_John]

17. Ed is wrong, WI is the most clear cut situation in politics for the past 100 yrs.

It is now up to WI and no amount of outside forces are going to change that situation. It's aye or nay time.

Recall is a very heavy lift. First you have to convince the original winning majority they were wrong and then convince the original loser minority to try again.

A very heavy lift.

[99Forever]

19. Who the Hell do you think you are kidding?

"...and no amount of outside forces are going to change that situation."

That is about one the most MISINFORMED lines of crap I've ever read on the site.

Do you even have the first fucking clue as to where THE MAJORITY of Snotty Walker's dirty money is coming from?

[Autumn]

18. Not very likely to happen .

So Ed will probably have to suck up his disappointment.

[WillyT]

20. Oh... I Think If Walker Wins This Thing... Ed Is Gonna Go On The Warpath...

and it WON'T be mostly focused on Republicans...

[jwirr]

21. If he comes to WI then it will be seen as a test of his power to carry Barret to victory. That will

bring out the rethug voters.

[loyalsister]

30. Good point

I also think that it would make it even worse if Walker wins. If Obama wins WI and Walker wins this election, could actually hold it over his head. Damage control and not burning bridges are important political tools.

[fascisthunter]

24. the New Dems have no NEED for Unions now

that is obvious. The den leadership has abandoned unions and populism in general.