In good news for the Democratic Party, President Obama’s Gallup approval ratings have been bouncing back recently. As of today Obama’s approval rating is at 47% which is bounce back of 6% points from the low of 41% he hit. As I explained recently Obama’s approval rating right now doesn’t mean much as far as his chances for reelection in 2012, but it does play a part in the chances for his party in the midterms this November.

Today marks the first day since July that Obama’s approval rating (47%) is higher than his disapproval rating (45%.)

What’s the reason for this bounce back for President Obama?

Perhaps it’s the fact that he ended the war in Iraq just as he promised during the 2008 campaign? (And people realizing how we’d still be knee deep in that war with a Republican President.)

Maybe it’s people really starting to realize what the alternative is? Are people beginning to wake up to just how insane the Republican Tea Party really is?

They have plans for destroying Social Security and Medicare. They have plans for taking away our right to vote for own Senators (17th amendment.) They have plans to shut down the government again just Newt Gingrich did in 1995. They have plans on beginning ridiculous baseless money wasting “investigations” into the Obama administration. But they have absolutely no plans for improving the economy. In fact, they just want to double down on the George W. Bush economic policies that made the mess in the first place.

If people realize this before November, they will surely decide that we’re better off giving President Obama and the Democratic Party more time to clean up the Republican’s mess instead of giving the Republicans another shot at running the country into a ditch.

One can only hope that this bounce back of Obama’s approval numbers is a sign that people are beginning to make this realization. The Democratic Party is not perfect, but the Republican Party of 2010 is dangerously extreme. The GOP has pandered to the farthest right wing fringe groups in this country and if they get into power they will do everything they can to make their twisted fantasies into a very disturbing reality.

Tonight President Obama addressed the nation about the end of the Iraq war:

It’s important to remember at a time like this that things could be quite different right now if John McCain had won the Presidency in 2008. McCain wanted the Iraq war to continue and actually said he would be fine with it lasting another 100 years.

President Obama promised to end the war in Iraq and that is what he has done.

The people of the United States made the right choice in 2008.

Don’t make the wrong one this fall by voting for the Republican Tea Party. It’s their policies that caused the problems of today and it’s their obstructionism that has stood in the way of fixing those problems more quickly.

Among the Republican Tea Party’s top agenda items are destroying Medicare as we know it and privatizing Social Security. For a more thorough list of what the Republicans plan on doing if they get a majority in congress click here.

Great sign at the Glenn Beck lunatic rally:

It’s clear from this insightful anti-Tea Party sign that not all of the 87,000 people who attended the Glenn Beck rally were there to support the whole “take America back to the 1800s” thing.

A PPP poll taken earlier this month set President Obama against five possible GOP challengers (Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, & Chris Christie.) Obama was ahead of all of them in the poll (although the numbers are definitely too close for comfort.)

Obama: 45%, Romney 42%
Obama: 47%, Huckabee 44%
Obama: 49%, Palin 43%
Obama: 49%, Gingrich 42%
Obama: 47%, Christie 31%

As a joke they also set Obama against Basil Marceaux who he beat 46% to 21%. I’m assuming that 21% would vote against Obama if he were running against Satan himself. There’s also about that many people who think Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya. I’d be very surprised if they are not the same people who would vote for Basil Marceaux.

Who is Basil Marceaux?

According to Nate Silver’s analysis at 538 the following Senate races are currently within a margin of 10 points:

State | Margin | Current

Illinois | Even | D
Washington | D +1 | D
Florida | R +1 | R
Nevada | R +1 | D
California | D +2 | D
Wisconsin | D +3 | D
Kentucky | R +4 | R
Colorado | R +5 | D
North Carolina | R +6 | R
Ohio | R +6 | R
New Hampshire | R +7 | R
Missouri | R +8 | R
Pennsylvania | R +8 | D
Delaware | R +9 | D

———————–

Of these 14, eight are currently held by the Democratic Party and six by the Republican Party.

With a baseline of 56 Democratic Senators (conceding North Dakota, Arkansas, & Indiana to the Republicans) depending on the outcome of these 14 races there could be anywhere from 48 to 62 Democratic Senators after the election. Looking at the current margins, it seems likely that number will be closer to 48 than 62, but the Republican leads in states such as Kentucky, Colorado, North Carolina, and Ohio do not look insurmountable.

Of course the Democrats running the table (defending all 8 of their seats and picking up all six of the Republican seats) would take a huge swing in the momentum between now and election day.

Perhaps voters might wake up and realize what the Republican agenda really is at some point before the election? Privatizing Social Security, destroying Medicare, more of the Bush economics that destroyed the economy in the first place, and creating faux scandals so they drag the Obama administration through the mud. That can’t possibly sound good to many voters.

It’s just a matter of people voting rationally and not letting the Republican lie machine spin them towards the huge mistake of giving the keys to the country back to the party that has proven they cannot drive.

The Republican Party can’t run on their own policy agenda (plans to privatize Social Security and destroy Medicare) because it is so unpopular with voters, so instead they have to try to run attacks against “Tax & Spend Democrats.”

But there’s a big problem with that attack: President Obama & The Democratic Congress cut taxes for 95% of Americans (this is not an opinion, it is a FACT.) How can you run against “Tax & Spend” when your opponents actually cut taxes? You certainly can’t do it and be anything close to honest.

When you hear the Republicans talk about their “Tax & Spend” Democratic opponents know one thing; they are lying.

The GOP can’t run on the truth because virtually no one would vote for privatizing Social Security and destroying Medicare, so they have to make up lies about their opponents.

Rick Boucher is a long serving Democratic member of congress (since 1983) who has been very popular throughout most of his time in the House serving Virginia’s 9th district.

On the other hand; his opponent this November, Republican Morgan Griffith, doesn’t even live in the 9th district. For some strange reason Virginia doesn’t require that you live in a district to run for congress there.

Boucher is known for his frequent visits to all parts of the 9th district and for bringing home important federal projects to the area. Boucher is ranked by congress.org as the 10th most powerful member of congress. If Griffith were to win he would be significantly less powerful and would be unable (even if he were willing, which is unlikely) to fight for the 9th district like Boucher has done for years.

Boucher co-authored the CAN-SPAM act of 2003 which has helped to decrease the amount amount of spam we get in our Email accounts. For that he certainly deserves a round of thanks from everyone who is not a spammer.

In 2006 Boucher was named “politician of the year” by Library Journal for his work in protecting the “fair use doctrine.” This is also something that he deserves great credit for.

But while Rick Boucher has been a very good congressman during his 14 terms, I cannot say that he gets an endorsement in this race without reservations. He did vote against health care reform this year. Politically it may have been the smart thing to do because polls indicated that the reform was unpopular in the district, but sometimes doing what right is unpopular - that doesn’t mean you don’t do it.

That said, Morgan Griffith is obviously not the right man to represent the 9th district of Virginia. Not only because he doesn’t even live in the 9th district but because his views on the issues are in line with the George W. Bush policies that put this country in the mess it’s struggling to get out of today. Going back in that direction would be a huge mistake.

The modern Republican Party has taken a turn to the far right. What that means is that they don’t just want to go back to the Bush era, they actually want to turn the clock back about 150 years.

Among the things on the agenda of the “Republican Tea Party” are ending Medicare as it presently exists, privatizing Social Security, tax cuts for the wealthy (but not for the middle class), and repealing the important Wall Street Reform that will help prevent any future bailouts (the bank bailouts signed into law by George W. Bush.)

Wall Street Reform also decreases the chances of another recession like the Bush Recession that has cost so many people their jobs.

It’s important for all voters to realize that the Republican Party of today is not a responsible choice. While the Democratic Party is not perfect, the Republican Party has gone completely off the rails and threatens to destroy this country if people make the mistake of giving them power again.

This Site Endorses Rick Boucher For The VA-09 House Race.

The Tea Party is anything but a grassroots movement. It is actually a billionaire-roots movement that has been funded from the get go by the Koch brothers.

Who are the Koch brothers? They are two far right wing billionaires (with Bircher roots) who are among the richest people in the world. David and Charles Kochs combined wealth is surpassed by only two people in America (Bill Gates & Warren Buffet.)

David Koch founded (and funds) the Americans for Prosperity.

The Koch brothers have given at least $12 million to FreedomWorks.

Who are Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks? Only the two biggest sponsors of the Tea Party. From the beginning the “Tea Party Movement” has been a billionaire funded attack on President Obama with only corporate interests in mind. The “everyday Americans” who are a part of the movement are simply the easily manipulated gullible fools who are unwittingly doing the dirty work of two billionaire brothers.

For the full story read these two articles:

The New Yorker.

New York Times.

Every American should look at what the Republican Tea Party actually has on their agenda if they gain power before voting this November: RepublicanTeaPartyContract.com

President Obama’s latest approval rating (as of today on Gallup) is only 43%. Many on the right are hoping that means Obama is done for and some on the left are quite worried about it.

While it’s certainly not good news for the Democratic Party that Obama’s approval rating is in the low 40s, it’s important to keep historical perspective. What were the approval ratings of past Presidents at this point (August of their second year) in their presidencies?

According to Gallup both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were at 41%, below Obama’s 43%, in August of their second year (1982 and 1994 respectively.) As you no doubt know; both of them went on to win a second term in very convincing fashion.

On the other side of things George HW Bush had a 75% approval rating at this point and his son George W Bush was at 67%. Bush Sr. lost his reelection bid (to Bill Clinton) and George W. Bush barely squeaked by John Kerry.

The point is obvious: Approval ratings at this point in a President’s first term mean close to nothing as far as a predictor of a President’s chances at reelection. It’s more than two years until the 2012 presidential election and it’s impossible to know now what will happen over the course of those 2+ years.

The President’s approval rating at this point in his Presidency has far more effect on the chances of his party in the midterm elections than it does on his own reelection hopes two years later. This is why Democrats in the House & Senate are probably much more concerned about Obama’s 43% approval rating than he is.

That seems to be what Michael Reagan (eldest son of Ronald Reagan) is banking on with his ridiculous new @Reagan.com email service that costs $39.95/year.

How does he make the pitch?

“People who believe in true Reagan Conservative Values are unwittingly supporting the Obama, Pelosi and Reid liberal agenda! What do I mean? Well, every time you use your email from companies like Google, AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, Apple and others, you are helping the liberals.”

Seriously?

Yes. Really. That’s taken word for word from his website.

Like Glenn Beck’s Goldline

This reminds me of the Glenn Beck Goldline scam. It’s really sad the way these sociopaths are abusing the gullibility of their audience. But I guess it’s nothing that the Republican Party hasn’t been doing for years. They’re just doing it for money instead of votes.

When will these people wake up and realize they are being used? Whether it’s for their vote for a politician who only cares about the interests of corporate power or buying some scam product like gold coins or a Reagan.com Email address - it’s just just different ways that they are being used for something that doesn’t really benefit them at all.