Why You Can't Vote for the Republicans in 2012

Reasons to Vote Against the Corporate Take Over of America

There is so much coming over the next two years to be angry about, we should keep a running list that is easy to reference. Just since the 2010 election, there is plenty to be angry about with regard to the Corporate Party of America. We are going to keep a running tally for you of why you should not vote for Republicans. We are going to update this with a running list for you to use when arguing with your conservative friends or family. We are not going back to "You lie" or pre 2010 election. Feel free to add your own in the comments section and we will post them.

December 2010/January 2011:
1. Two Republicans skipped the swearing in ceremony to attend a fundraiser.
2. The Tea Party staged a political event to read the Constitution, but featured an edited version to remove the "three-fifths of a person" clause so as not to damage the belief that we should go back to the original document.
3. Dismissed the CBO estimate that repealing health care would cost $230 billion.
4. Ohio and Wisconsin and New Jersey Governors reject huge jobs programs with the canceling of passenger train projects.
5. Ohio governor refused to release his taxes, objects to media knowing who had applied for jobs, and wanted to close the media out of his swearing into office.
6. Two people die in Arizona because the state cut off funding for urgent transplant funding.
7. Dick Armey said he wanted to eliminate the AmeriCorps Program that allows young people to work on fighting poverty.
8. 97 judicial vacancies (44 judicial emergencies) because of Republican blocking votes on nominees.
9. Cut the time down that Congress members spend in DC, so that they can spend more time back in the district (read less time working--more time fund raising).
10. Promised $100 million in cuts, but the first week in power cut that in half.
11. Further weakened Congressional power by delegates from territories, the district of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
12. Placed a provision making it difficult to close Guantanamo Bay prison (a leading cause of terrorists to take up arms against the US) in the 2011 Defense Authorization Bill.
13. Tax breaks for BP, Exxon and other oil and gas interests are already exempt from any budget cuts also off-shore tax havens are exempt.
14. Ohio Governor Kasich had campaigned against waste in government then gave his new staff huge raises over similar positions in the Strickland administration.
15. Darling of the far right, Sarah Palin, suggested the media were "manufactur[ing] a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn" in response to the murders in Tuscon Arizona in January.
16. New Ohio Jobs private entity to oversee economic development will not have the same level of scrutiny as a public governmental organization including open board meetings.
17. Ohio Governor could not find one member of a racial minority population who could be characterized as the best person for a job within his cabinet. What about a minority and senior citizen for the Department of Aging who may remember the 1950s--the last time that there was not a member of a minority in the Governor's cabinet?
18. A conservative house caucus has proposed massive cuts to the federal government, which would mean people without money not having access to a lawyer, public radio in small communities would close, no more renovations of public housing, and access to train services. Nothing in the study talks about cuts to the military industrial complex.
19. The Majority party of the House demanded that every bill cite some constitutional authority. In the introduction of the Protect Life Act, they failed to cite any constitutional authority in violation of their own rules. They have an easy time criticizing, but a tough time following the rules to govern.
20. Ohio Senator Tim Schaffer believes that poor people are to be assumed guilty until they prove themselves innocent with a drug test. He would prefer that they freeze to death in their house over providing them any public dollars while they struggle with their behavioral health problem of addiction.
21. Ohio, Wisconsin, and New Jersey governor wants to kill the unions representing public employees (including teachers) in the state. Unions built this country and this state, and has allowed blue collar workers to crack the middle class.
22. The most conservative member of the US Supreme Court improperly hid his wife's income for 20 years, which is not a big deal unless she was receiving funds for political and lobbying activity. An argument could be made that the success of her business which richly rewarded her family could influence her husband's conservative opinions.
23. The Banking Party passed a reform of bankruptcy law in 2005 written and pushed by the banking industry, which now we see contributed to the housing bubble and recession of 2008.
24. Fundamentalists within the Corporate Party repeatedly attack the President's faith. The previous two Republican presidents were rarely seen in church, but no one questioned their faith. These fundamentalists can't even give take the guy on something so personal as his own religion.
25. They ran on a platform to get the US working, but have focused all of their attention on repealing health care and balancing the federal budget--both of which will put people out of work.
26. Ohio Governor called a police officer an "idiot" in January for giving him a ticket for not yielding to a emergency vehicle on Interstate 315 in Columbus.
27. Ohio federal Corporate Party members support a second engine $450 million defense bill even though the military does not want it. They preach fiscal restraint until it hurts their own district.
28. In a prank phone call Wisconsin Governor Walker admits to contemplating dirty tricks when speaking to a fake David Koch.
29. Republican dominated executive branch locked out protesters from the Ohio Statehouse, and then made up stories about disruptive behavior.
30. Ohio Republicans, over the objection of both Police and Restaurant and Bar owners, are voting to allow concealed guns into a bar.
31. Ohio legislators are moving forward on ending the estate tax so that rich people can keep their money within the family to set up an aristocracy.
32. Ohio has stripped away collective bargaining rights of public employees from fire fighters, police, teachers, social workers, and trash collectors. This despite President Ronald Reagan declaring unions a fundamental human right.
33. Unwilling to raise taxes on the wealthiest and cut the tax breaks for corporate jets and the oil industry while pushing the country near the edge of default.
34. Ohio leaders of the far right claim that the new voting law in Ohio does not make it harder for people to vote. How could a shorter time to vote and an inability for local Boards of Elections to notify voters of early voting option not hurt voters?
35. One of the Ohio far right delegation from Cincinnati who championed family values was arrested for drunk driving in a car with a young woman (not his wife) who worked at a local strip club and refuses to resign his position with the Ohio legislature.
36. Extreme Conservatives passed an Ohio budget that cuts local governments, education for our children, selling public infrastructure, and destroying consumer protections, while not closing tax loopholes or raising any additional resources.
37. One Northeast Ohio GOPer state legislator actually admitted that he accidentally voted for the water legislation which allows massive amounts of water to be withdrawn from Lake Erie in Ohio as a "reflex" because others from his party were voting for the legislation.
38. Two weeks after passing a major reform of the procedure for voting in Ohio, the Empire reformed the reform law. Without explanation and despite the objections of the Ohio Secretary of State, the Ohio legislator dominated by one party made more confusing changes on the voting procedure.
39. Again trying to shove unnecessary cuts down the throat of the other party and displaying an inability to compromise and thus an inability to govern forced the partial shutdown of the FAA. Then they went on vacation while the FAA was still shut down.
40. Both parties are to blame for the loss of AAA rating for the United States, but the Corporate party staunch loyalty to not raising taxes has to be considered a huge factor. Get back to work!!!

Ted Strickland is Spineless

by Max Johnson

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland is a jellyfish with no backbone. Today he commuted the sentence of Sidney Cornwell sparing his life. The final record for Strickland was 3 commutations and he killed 17 people. One of the people, Kevin Keith, had a strong argument for actually being innocent. The reason that Cornwell was spared: he was teased as a kid." Give me a break!!! Strickland was a minister or is a minister, and I had high hopes that he would challenge the death penalty. I thought that he was in the perfect position to argue that only God takes a human life. Instead he bowed to public pressure. This is why there was not the enthusiasm for Strickland to motivate voters. What did he stand for? When thinking of Strickland what is the one issue that comes to mind first. Nothing? He was the governor of Ohio for four nears and he has nothing to show for his time in office. Ohio is in no way better off than it was four years ago.

His supporters will say that he lost because of the bad economy and the loss of jobs. But the truth is that he lost because he gave Ohioan no reason to vote for him. This commutation today seems like a political move. When he was running for office, he had no problem killing people. After the election, his morality comes back and he can't push the plunger on the poison. Hell, he even had the state of Ohio argue that the current method of killing people was not cruel and unusual punishment. I do not believe that Mark Brown, Jason Getsy, and Kenneth Biros, all victims of Strickland's political calculation, were also not teased as kids. Strickland faced a horrible candidate, and he could not beat him. While Ohioans probably support the death penalty, they would have understood that a minister cannot execute a person. He could have taken the bully pulpit to educate Ohioans about the horrible cost to society of state sponsored murder. Instead he stayed in the middle of the road and was run over.

The Ohio Nightmare

by Max Johnson

I just don't understand Ohio voters at all. I keep pressing refresh on Nate Silver's NY Times blog hoping that it will change the polling for Ohio Senate and Governors Race. How could the polls have the two worst possible candidates in the lead for election in these critical offices for Ohio? The big picture here is that the Ohio Republican party has been in power for most of the last 25 years, and where are we? Voters gave one of the worst Governors ever, Bob Taft, two terms in office. The Republicans have won basically on the pledge to cut taxes. In good times and bad, their only platform is to cut taxes. It is a winning strategy to get elected, but a losing strategy to govern a state. This is like telling your bank that you will balance the budget of your business only by reducing expenses. "I will not even consider working to create additional resources for my business. Any price increases or new product offering is off the table." See how long your banker would tolerate this recklessness and keep extending credit to you.

They are the party of "no." They have done nothing when they were in power and now they want their old jobs back. I understand throwing the bums out, but do not understand putting back the guys who got us in trouble. They have isolated us on the international stage, and have preached fiscal responsibility without acting responsibility. I never get the sense that the Republican elected officials have ideas for solving problems, but are great at marketing. This is the party of Abramoff and Gingrich who were run out of Washington for mismanagement and scandal. This is a small tent party that has alienated its traditional base in Hispanics with no answer to immigration issues except building fences and law enforcement. They preach small government, but don't mind if government gets involved in the sex life of our soldiers and wants government involved in deciding who can marry and what pain relief doctors can prescribe. The Republican party is the party of hypocrisy and slogans.

In Ohio, John Kasich is the Republican nominee for governor. This is a man who was employed at the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers. He made millions off of the misery of Ohioans. This was a company that was up to its eyeballs in subprime lending. This is a company that destroyed many neighborhoods in Ohio, and Kasich was their point man in Ohio. Kasich stands for Wall Street and Wall Street caused the near depression that we witnessed. He picked a woman as his running mate who shipped jobs to Florida. He has advocated destroying the Ohio budget by eliminating income taxes. As a commentator on Fox News, he adopted extreme positions to get face time, and the guy does not have a compromise bone in his body. We have a huge debt in Ohio, and we need all options on the table. I just can't imagine a worse candidate for office.

Rob Portman has a lead over the weaker Democratic candidate Lee Fisher. Ms. Brunner would have energized more Democratic voters, but Fisher is more of a main stream candidate who can attract independents. What do we actually know about Rob Portman? What are his signature positions that he is running on besides not agreeing with Obama? I think that all we need to know is that he served in the Bush administration. He was a loyal soldier in the administration that took us to a useless war, began torturing people, allowed a city to drown, and gave corporations a free ride. Portman was in charge of two areas of the administration that could only be considered a failure. The US trade deficit went from a negative $390 billion to $670 billion during the decade of the Bush administration, and Portman was the US Trade Representative. Bush and Portman excelled at not paying for the Iraq war or prescription drugs, or no child left behind or the 2001 tax cuts while Portman was at the Office of Management and Budget. This is really all I know of Portman, but that alone would seem to make him unelectable. Not in Ohio. This is a nightmare. How can this happen?