The Republican Thread

[southsider2k5]

Great work here! They are going to be paying the Ex-CEO 60k a month for 20 hours worth of work AND he can work other places, as long as they aren't competition. I am waiting for Obama's speech on the wages and bonuses being paid to the new GM chairman.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...7s_Most_Popular

 

General Motors Co. Chief Executive Ed Whitacre will receive a pay package valued at $9 million to help turn around the government-owned auto maker, according to a regulatory filing.

 

Mr. Whitacre, according to the filing, will receive a $1.7 million base salary this year. The rest of his compensation is comprised of $5.3 million in stock available to him beginning in 2012 and restricted stock units valued currently at $2 million.

[gmboard_corp]

 

Ed Whitacre

 

The auto maker will pay former-CEO Frederick "Fritz" Henderson $59,090 a month beginning this week for consulting on international operations. The consulting deal surprised some GM executives. Mr. Henderson has not been working for the company since he resigned under pressure from the GM board.

 

Mr. Whitacre became the auto maker's full-time CEO last month following a short stint as acting chief. Mr. Whitacre was GM's chairman at the time and continues in that role. He does not receive additional pay for his work as chairman of the board.

 

Because GM is subject to restrictions on pay the U.S. imposed on companies it bailed out, U.S. Treasury pay czar Kenneth Feinberg had to approve the package.

 

Mr. Whitacre had said in December that the government's pay restrictions were making it difficult for GM to find a suitable candidate for CEO.

 

Mr. Henderson's pay as CEO had been set at $5.5 million, including a $1.3 million annual salary. Mr. Henderson's commitment to GM is relatively flexible. According to Friday's filing, he is expected to provide about 20 hours of consulting a month and meet once a month with the head of GM's international operations. He is free to work for other companies as long as they don't compete with GM.

 

Mr. Henderson was picked by the Obama administration to lead GM after it forced out then-CEO Rick Wagoner last spring as a condition of providing a federal bailout.

 

Mr. Whitacre, whom the Obama administration brought in as chairman last summer amid GM's federally financed bankruptcy reorganization, assumed the chief executive post on a permanent basis a month ago. Mr. Whitacre, a former chairman and chief executive of AT&T Inc., has pushed for faster, more dramatic change at GM. He promised to repay a $6.7 billion in U.S. government loans by this summer and has predicted that GM will become profitable in 2010 for the first time in six years.

 

Write to Sharon Terlep at [email protected] and Jay Miller at [email protected]

[mr_genius]

CPAC straw poll results.

 

31% - Ron Paul

22% - Mitt Romney

7% - Sarah Palin

6% - Tim Pawlenty

 

per FOX

[southsider2k5]

CPAC straw poll results.

 

31% - Ron Paul

22% - Mitt Romney

7% - Sarah Palin

6% - Tim Pawlenty

 

per FOX

 

So much for the Sarah Palin favorite garbage...

[Balta1701]

So much for the Sarah Palin favorite garbage...

Yeah, how about that Dems, we showed you, our straw poll didn't pick the crazy woman from Alaska, it picked the even crazier gold-standard guy from Texas!

[southsider2k5]

Yeah, how about that Dems, we showed you, our straw poll didn't pick the crazy woman from Alaska, it picked the even crazier gold-standard guy from Texas!

 

It just goes to prove that all of the garbage trying to paint the right wing of the party as in love with Palin to justify all of the coverage and obsession given to her is totally for their own purposes. It has zero basis in reality.

[Texsox]

It just goes to prove that all of the garbage trying to paint the right wing of the party as in love with Palin to justify all of the coverage and obsession given to her is totally for their own purposes. It has zero basis in reality.

 

The tea party regulars love her on the circuit. Maybe they were not polled. And as soon as Perry announces, all that will change.

[mr_genius]

The tea party regulars love her on the circuit. Maybe they were not polled. And as soon as Perry announces, all that will change.

 

CPAC allows anyone in attendance to vote in the strawpoll. Palin is more of a dumbass celebrity than anything else.

 

Which does explain the Dems obsession, they love to read about celebrities and follow every thing they do.

[Texsox]

CPAC allows anyone in attendance to vote in the strawpoll. Palin is more of a dumbass celebrity than anything else.

 

Which does explain the Dems obsession, they love to read about celebrities and follow every thing they do.

 

But I thought it was Republicans that go to those tea party events.

 

Dems follow everything they do, GOPers vote them into office, Arnold, Ron,

[mr_genius]

But I thought it was Republicans that go to those tea party events.

 

I think Republicans do go to those events, but more of the Ron Paul wing of the GOP. I don't think anyone is going to beat Ron Paul in a vote at a tea party protest lol. CPAC is a little bit different, Mitt Romney won the past 3 votes I believe, with McCain in second last year.

 

If anything, Palin should win or at least be very competitive in a CPAC poll. She wasn't even close to winning.

 

But anyways, I don't think Ron Paul or Palin have a chance at the GOP nomination. Ron Paul just has followers that will go out of their way to vote in every straw poll, internet poll, whatever.

Edited February 21, 2010 by mr_genius

[southsider2k5]

http://nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnist...6bcb93bbf6.html

 

BRIAN HOWEY: Bayh didn't trust Democrat voters to choose his successor

 

* Story

* Discussion

 

By Brian Howey - Publisher, Howey Politics Indiana | Posted: Sunday, February 21, 2010 12:00 am | (3) Comments

 

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In the early days of my career as a columnist, I watched a young Indiana secretary of state named Evan Bayh enter office only to find a mess. As the state's chief elections officer, he had to preside over a congressional and two legislative recounts in northern Indiana.

 

In the 3rd District, Democrat Tom Ward had come within a handful of votes of upsetting U.S. Rep. John Hiler in 1986. Several months later, Bayh ruled that Hiler had won after an arduous recount process, angering some Democrats who had pressured him to rule for the party and not for the process.

 

When Bayh abruptly announced last Monday that he would not stand for re-election in a decision that stunned just about everyone, he mentioned that 1986 race. "I cast the deciding vote in the closest congressional race in the nation for a member of the other political party because I believed he had legitimately won the election," Bayh said.

 

He would go on to level a searing indictment of American politics today. "After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned," Bayh said. "To put it in words most Hoosiers can understand: I love working for the people of Indiana, I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives, but I do not love Congress. I have always tried to remember that my job is to work for Hoosiers, not the other way around, and I am constantly reminded that if Washington, D.C., could be more like Indiana, Washington would be a better place."

 

His assessment of Congress is on target. I have never been more disgusted with the partisanship and lack of progress and issues such as health care, the deficits and reforming the financial system than I am today.

 

While Bayh rightly targets this polarization on Capitol Hill, he literally did so by disenfranchising every Democratic Party voter in Indiana.

 

He waited until the day before the filing deadline to announce his decision.

 

His former chief of staff, William Moreau Jr., told me, "This has been going on for quite some time. Certainly it would be accurate to characterize it as months." There were reports out of Washington that Bayh had considered retirement, but nobody thought he would do it just hours before the filing deadline.

 

The irony is that he did it on President's Day, when his own presidential ambitions have been dashed after using the various stepping-stones -- secretary of state, governor, U.S. Senator -- to get there, only to be eclipsed by Barack Obama.

 

Why would he do that?

 

It's about control. Bayh wants to decide who his successor will be. He just didn't believe that Democrats could work the process, declare candidacies, build campaigns, raise money, come up with new ideas and bring them successfully before the voters.

 

All of the natural heirs were completely caught off guard. U.S. Rep, Baron Hill was on a military tour in Afghanistan. U.S. Reps. Joe Donnelly and Brad Ellsworth were already deep into their re-election bids.

 

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. was interested in running, but didn't know if it would be an "open and fair process" and wondered if Democrats had been disenfranchised. "If it's truly an open seat, let us know. Or let us know if it's a done deal," said McDermott.

 

While decrying the decay of the political process in Washington, Bayh chose to bow out with cynical, controlling paternalism; that Democrats in his home state aren't mature enough or wise enough to decide who would step up.

 

The roots of this may stem from 2008 when a barely veiled attempt by his team that controls the party backed Indianapolis architect Jim Schellinger for governor. Schellinger ran a terrible campaign and was defeated by former congresswoman Jill Long Thompson. Both candidates were broke at the end of the primary, and Gov. Mitch Daniels went on to win by 18 percent. In the eyes of Bayh and the party elders, the primary was messy, expensive and out of their control.

 

Literally, as I am writing this column, the Indiana Democratic Central Committee is engaged in a conference call to determine who gets the nomination, instead of the hundreds of thousands of Hoosier Democratic voters who could have decided in a "legitimate election."

 

Meanwhile, the five Republicans -- Dan Coats, State Sen. Marlin Stutzman, John Hostettler, Richard Behney and Don Bates Jr. -- are following the law and lining up the 4,500 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot as a prelude to exercising an essential task in democracy.

 

Bayh began his elective career as a beacon for not only Democrats, but also hundreds of thousands of Republicans and independents who voted for him. He stood tall in the 1986 election and as governor and senator did many good things. I recently had dinner with a Franklin College student who benefited from his 21st Century Scholars program that pays for her tuition.

 

But Bayh ended it by playing party boss, making a decision for his "children" in the Democratic Party, who hadn't earned his trust after so many years of doing his bidding.

 

Brian Howey is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana, a daily briefing on Indiana politics. The opinion expressed in this column is the writer's and not necessarily that of The Times.

[Texsox]

I think Republicans do go to those events, but more of the Ron Paul wing of the GOP. I don't think anyone is going to beat Ron Paul in a vote at a tea party protest lol. CPAC is a little bit different, Mitt Romney won the past 3 votes I believe, with McCain in second last year.

 

If anything, Palin should win or at least be very competitive in a CPAC poll. She wasn't even close to winning.

 

But anyways, I don't think Ron Paul or Palin have a chance at the GOP nomination. Ron Paul just has followers that will go out of their way to vote in every straw poll, internet poll, whatever.

 

So they are polling the 1% of hardliners and activists? Seems like it will be the common, populist candidate that emerges once the "only pay attention when ads are running on TV" vote.

[mr_genius]

So they are polling the 1% of hardliners and activists? Seems like it will be the common, populist candidate that emerges once the "only pay attention when ads are running on TV" vote.

 

correct, it's just a CPAC (which is mainly going to be activists and hardliners) strawpoll, but it is supposedly somewhat of a 'bellwether' for the GOP. The CPAC crowd is one in which Palin should poll strongly.

 

And yes, I'm sure there will be large voter blocks voting based on TV ads and celebrity just like in 2008 when Obama won.

 

and anyways, no one is going to stop you guys from obsessing over Palin. The funny thing is that like 99% of the Palin posts are from you guys. lol

Edited February 21, 2010 by mr_genius

[Texsox]

correct, it's just a CPAC (which is mainly going to be activists and hardliners) strawpoll, but it is supposedly somewhat of a 'bellwether' for the GOP. The CPAC crowd is one in which Palin should poll strongly.

 

And yes, I'm sure there will be large voter blocks voting based on TV ads and celebrity just like in 2008 when Obama won.

 

and anyways, no one is going to stop you guys from obsessing over Palin. The funny thing is that like 99% of the Palin posts are from you guys. lol

 

 

Kind of like all the GOP Hillary posts

[mr_genius]

Kind of like all the GOP Hillary posts

 

that could be a good comparison, except for the glaring difference that no one posts about Hillary Clinton. haha.

Edited February 21, 2010 by mr_genius

[southsider2k5]

Kind of like all the GOP Hillary posts

 

You mean the person who actually led the polls and voting until about halfway through the primaries? I am still not seeing the similarities there.

[DukeNukeEm]

So much for the Sarah Palin favorite garbage...

... and here comes the Tea Party trainwreck.

[Texsox]

You mean the person who actually led the polls and voting until about halfway through the primaries? I am still not seeing the similarities there.

 

Almost immediately after Bush won, Rush and the GOP radio network started promoting her as the #1 Dem candidate. No one could beat her, etc. She had more talk from the other party than her own. And the GOP strategy of picking the other party's candidate came very close to working.

Palin - Perry 2012

For All Americans!

[southsider2k5]

Almost immediately after Bush won, Rush and the GOP radio network started promoting her as the #1 Dem candidate. No one could beat her, etc. She had more talk from the other party than her own. And the GOP strategy of picking the other party's candidate came very close to working.

 

Except in this case she actually was the leader in the polls and the early primaries. Sarah Palin has led NOTHING. Not even the right wing of the party that supposedly loves her so much, let alone the entire party.

[Balta1701]

Except in this case she actually was the leader in the polls and the early primaries. Sarah Palin has led NOTHING. Not even the right wing of the party that supposedly loves her so much, let alone the entire party.

The exclusive Newsmax Media-Zogby poll released Thursday asked likely GOP voters: "If the Republican primary for president of the United States were held today. . . for whom would you vote?"

 

The poll gave voters a selection of top-tier potential candidates, as well as some dark horses,. The list included Scott Brown, Jeb Bush, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, David Petraeus, Tim Pawlenty, and Mitt Romney.

 

Despite the size and diversity of the field, Palin grabbed a solid 22.2 percent to take the lead with former Massachusetts Gov. Romney close behind with 19.4 percent.

 

Also making a strong showing was former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 12 percent, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 11 percent.

Link

 

Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are most interested in seeing Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee run for the party's presidential nomination in 2012. Those three received the highest scores among the 10 possible candidates evaluated in a recent Gallup Panel survey.

Gallup

 

Research 2000/Daily Kos

 

CNN

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted on February 18-19 among 429 Republicans shows Sarah Palin with a slight edge over Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney as the preferred GOP nominee for 2012:

 

Rass, Romney 25, Palin 24.

[southsider2k5]

Link

 

Gallup

 

Research 2000/Daily Kos

 

CNN

 

 

Rass, Romney 25, Palin 24.

 

And yet when you get actual conservatives in the room, it all goes by the wayside. Strange huh?

[Balta1701]

And yet when you get actual conservatives in the room, it all goes by the wayside. Strange huh?

So you're saying that you believe a self-selcted group of Ron Paul supporters at a conference in D.C. is a better representative sample of the Republican Party than randomly polled samples who volunteer over the phone that they'll be Republican voters.

 

And you're proud of this?

[KipWellsFan]

Except in this case she actually was the leader in the polls and the early primaries. Sarah Palin has led NOTHING. Not even the right wing of the party that supposedly loves her so much, let alone the entire party.

 

I thought I remember Palin being the Vice Presidential nominee?

 

Seriously though, what the hell are you guys really debating here? Can you really blame people in the center right, center, and center-left for being concerned about Palin.

Edited February 21, 2010 by KipWellsFan

[southsider2k5]

So you're saying that you believe a self-selcted group of Ron Paul supporters at a conference in D.C. is a better representative sample of the Republican Party than randomly polled samples who volunteer over the phone that they'll be Republican voters.

 

And you're proud of this?

 

I'd much rather see Ron Paul ahead of Sarah Palin. Absolutely.

 

Especially viewing the websites that your info was coming from, I can't see how you wouldn't wonder about your own info being skewed just as much. Newsmax and Koz? I am sure they have no more self-interests at stake then anyone else, right?

[southsider2k5]

I thought I remember Palin being the Vice Presidential nominee?

 

Seriously though, what the hell are you guys really debating here? Can you really blame people in the center right, center, and center-left for being concerned about Palin.

 

Its the same old crap that has been getting spewed forever. Its a blatant lie to assoicate a sector of America with a couple of nutjobs in order to render them out of touch, instead of actually debating stuff on its merits.

 

Palin isn't going to win a damned thing. Everyone knows it, including the left wing who pretends to be so afraid of her, yet is the group who is single handedly keeping her relevant by putting her face and words up every chance they get.

[Balta1701]

Especially viewing the websites that your info was coming from, I can't see how you wouldn't wonder about your own info being skewed just as much. Newsmax and Koz? I am sure they have no more self-interests at stake then anyone else, right?

Ok, Zogby is still crap, but Research 2000 is a fine pollster. As is Gallup, Rasmussen tends to tilt quite to the right these days, CNN is a fine pollster. All of them say the same thing, it's a wide open field, with Huckabee and Romney in there right behind Palin.